Glory & Gore
by BLArensman
Summary: Lenni never thought the dead would roam the Earth. All alone, assuming everyone she loves is gone, she goes on a hunt to find a safe haven & let the whole apocalypse blow over. Tragedy & betrayal had always found Lenni, but will a certain redneck change that? Can love and happiness even come to in a world full of death & anger?
1. Chapter 1

_**Chapter 1:**_

Being alone wasn't something that really bothered me. All my life I always liked to just be alone to think. Now? It wasn't something I really liked because I constantly have to look over my shoulder to see if I have a geek trying to take a bite out of me. It would be nice to have someone who could watch my back and someone for me to be able to watch. Being alone makes you think and not of all the rainbows and unicorns. This world has changed. The only thing you can think of is if you're going to survive until tomorrow.

When the outbreak happened, all I could think of was my sister, brother-in-law and my nephew. I didn't see them for months. My job was tedious and demanding. I couldn't just pack up and leave without abandoning those who counted on me. Granted, my family counted on me too. I had a duty to them to just visit them but my job was a little more important to me. I was a workaholic and it prevented me from doing the right thing and seeing my family. Now it was too late.

I guess the good thing about being a workaholic and wanting to be alone all the time let me just accept the fact that I really was alone. I didn't have to try and wrap my head around it. I just went with it. In a world overrun with the dead trying to get a taste of your flesh and the living out to hurt you just to survive, being alone can be a bittersweet thing.

Right now?

Running for my life with a few geeks chasing me, it was a very bitter thing.

I could hear the moans and growls coming from behind me. I didn't risk looking back. I've seen all the movies. They look behind them, they lose their footing, they trip, and they die. I didn't want to die today.

In front of me I could see a security booth and a bunch of sandbags. Dead bodies of both walkers and humans littered the ground. Some were dressed in civilian clothing, others in soldiers' uniforms. The smell was horrible. The few geeks behind me already smelled horrible, and it was now intensified tenfold. Sucking in a deep breath I increased my running speed. I was full on sprinting towards a closing metal door. About two feet from the ground, closing in fast, I dove. I heard the slamming of the door down on the ground and then the pounding from the outside a few seconds later. I opened my eyes, not realizing that I had closed them in the first place. Looking around I noticed a group of people in front of me. I couldn't tell who they were. There was a mix of men, women, and kids. We were in what looked like a lobby. I didn't know where this was. I wasn't paying attention to where I was going.

A man in a hat and what looks like a sheriff's uniform was calling out to anyone. None of them noticed me as he continued to call out 'hello'. I heard a gun cock and turned my head to the sound. A man stood there, point a gun in front of himself. He was a little ways away from us.

"Anybody infected?!"

"One in our group was…he didn't make it." The man with the sheriff's uniform said. His voice sounded oddly familiar but I couldn't place it.

"Why are you here? What do you want?" The man said.

"A chance."

"That's askin' an awful lot these days." The man slowly stepped closer to the sheriff and the group in front of me.

"…I know." No one said anything for a few seconds. The man was taking everyone in just looking at everyone…like I was. Finally, he spoke.

"You all submit to a blood test. That's the price of admission."

"We can do that." Mr. Familiar-Voice said back. I didn't know what they were going to do once they realized that I, a complete stranger, was behind them. The man from the building told them to get what they needed from outside because the doors would be closing and staying closed. As they started to turn around, I froze. They did too. The ones with guns pointed them at me as soon as they seen me.

"Who tha' hell are you?" A guy with a cut off shirt asked first. He had a southern accent, clearly adding to his "redneck" persona. I stayed frozen, my mouth open, like an idiot. "…well?!"

"I—my name is—" I started but was cut off quickly.

"Lenni?!" I looked towards the voice, sucking in a breath. A woman who I recognized immediately came running forward, grabbing me into a hug. I hugged back, not caring if I was going to hug the air out of her. I pulled back. "Oh my god! I—I thought I'd never see you again!" Tears were running down her cheeks. I hugged her again. I heard an 'Aunt Len' from the side of me before I felt another pair of arms, much smaller arms, come around me. I pulled back to hug the little person who I missed so much. Tears were now falling out of my eyes.

"I don't mean ta' break up tha' tear fest…but who tha' hell is this?" I pulled back to look at my sister and my nephew, wiping my eyes while I heard her speak.

"This is my little sister, Lennox." Her voice broke and I grabbed Lori again to hug her. I let go after a minute. Only to be grabbed into another hug.

"Damn, Lenni. I thought I never see your face again." I smiled.

"Sorry to disappoint ya, Rick." He chuckled but tightened his hold on me. He let go, and I was quickly bombarded with another hug. I hugged Carl back, tighter than I ever have before. The rest of the people, looked on for a few seconds before making their way back outside. The geeks that were chasing me were no longer there, probably off eating something they shouldn't be. Once back inside with the things they needed the man spoke.

"Vi, seal off the main entrance. Kill the power up here." The door that I had dived under quickly closed. Rick spoke to the man after he had told someone named Vi, to seal the entrance.

"Rick Grimes." He introduced himself.

"Dr. Edwin Jenner." He, Jenner, said. He ushered us into an elevator. We were all squished together. I was uncomfortable to me seeing as I didn't know all of them.

"Doctors always go 'round packin' heat like that?" The man with the cut off shirt asked Jenner.

"Oh, there were plenty left lyin' around. I familiarized myself," He paused, before continuing a few seconds later. "But you look harmless enough, except you," he looked to Carl. "I'll have to keep an eye on you." Carl cracked a smile. I haven't seen that smile in so long that I couldn't help but smile down at my nephew standing next to me. God, have I missed him. Soon we were out of the elevator walking down a hallway. A woman with short hair and a little girl next to her spoke up. "Are we underground?"

"Why? Are you Claustrophobic?" Jenner asked her.

"A little."

"Try not to think about it," was his response as we walked down a ramp into a dark room. "Vi, bring up the lights in the big room." As the lights turned on I could see the room. In the middle were a whole bunch of computers. On the walls in front of us were what looked like big screens. Jenner looked at us over his shoulder, "Welcome to Zone 5." Jenner told us that he was the only doctor left here at the CDC. Rick filled me in on the way down in the elevator as to where we were. Who would have thought? The person, Vi, wasn't a person but a computer with a voice. 'She' controlled the building. "I'm all that's left. I'm sorry." Jenner turned around and got the things he needed for us to take that blood test. After one of the women, a blonde, almost fell over, Jenner rounded us all up to eat. It had to be one of the best dinners I've had in a long time. It was cut short once Shane, Ricks best friend and also cop—or ex cop I guess now—opened his big mouth. Over the years I've known Shane, he's always ruined something. With his constant need to have control over everything it usually ruined good days and great moments. Those were hard to come by, especially in this world we all lived in now.

"So when are ya gonna tell us what happened here, Doc? Hm? All the, uh, other doctors? They were supposed to be figuring out what happened. Where are they?" Everyone gave Shane a dirty look, me included.

"We're supposed to be celebrating, Shane." I said to him. "We don't need to do this now," Rick added after me. Of course, Shane couldn't leave it alone.

"Whoa…wait a second. This is why we're here, right? This was you're move," He looked to Rick. Shane continued with his mouth but I toned him out. He always was annoying to me. I never understood why Rick put up with him, or my sister. I never trusted Shane. I didn't like my nephew to be around him. But that's all Carl was, my nephew. It wasn't my right to tell Lori and Rick who should be around Carl. I toned back in once I heard Jenner speak.

"—a lot of people just left…off to be with their families. And when things got worse, when the military cordon got overrun, the rest bolted."

"Every last one?" Shane asked.

"No, many couldn't face walkin' out the door. They…opted out. There was a rash of suicides. That was a bad time." Jenner said.

"You didn't leave," The blonde, who I found out was named Andrea, accused. "Why?"

"I just kept working, hoping to do some good."

"Dude, you are such a buzz kill." Glenn, the Asian in the group, grumbled to Shane. Couldn't agree with you more, Chinaman, I thought.

After dinner Jenner took us to the living quarters. There was a rec room and a few rooms and even some beds. I haven't slept in a bed in what feels like forever. The topper for me, though…There was hot water. I could die for a shower right now, and having hot water? That was the cherry on top for me. We split up into groups so we could all have a room. Although I missed my family, I refused to bunk with them, despite them trying to convince me to do so. Rick, Lori and Carl were in one room. Carol, the woman with the short hair, and Sophia, her daughter, were in another. Jacqui, a nice black woman, and Andrea were in another. Dale, an older man who reminded me of my father, Glenn, and T-Dog, a black man, were in another room. The man with the cut off shirt, Daryl, was alone in one room. I noticed he wasn't very social. He was always on the outside of the group. I knew what it felt like to be alone. I didn't want to be alone anymore. I headed towards the room he was in not giving a damn if he wanted me there or not. I knew that although he put off as being a tough, emotionless man, I could see beyond it. Perks of my career before the world going to shit.

"Hope ya don't mind, but I have to bunk with you. No more extra room with anyone else…" I trailed off once I noticed his glare towards me. "I'll stay outta your way, don't worry, grump." I rolled my eyes at his increasingly intense glare towards me.

"Keep ya mouth shut, woman, then we won't have no trouble." Typical, it's always the good looking ones who have to be sexist assholes. I dropped my bag that was on my back before on the ground, bending down after it to find something I could use to sleep in. I pulled out a t-shirt and sweat pants before turning to the connected bathroom so I could shower. I heard a muffled, "don't use all the hot water, woman" as I shut the door. I rolled my eyes before locking the door and striping to take the shower I desperately needed. I was out a little while later not wanting to anger the big bad redneck since I did have to share a room with him.

I walked out, grabbing my bag that I dropped near the bathroom door and headed for the couch. I plopped down on it, trying to get comfortable as I heard the bathroom door shut again and then the water turning on. Soon it was shut off and Daryl stepped out. He walked over to the bed, but didn't lie down. I heard him grunt. I ignored him. He grunted again, but I still ignored him.

"Woman, get yer ass up. I ain't that big of an asshole. I'll take tha' couch." Daryl's voice came out from the now dark room.

"Shut up, Grump. Some of us are trying to sleep, ya' know." I heard him grunt again this time it was closer, matter of fact; it was right in front of me.

"Get up, woman. I ain't gonna ask again."

"Good, then don't." I knew I was pushing my luck but, hell, who cares? "And stop calling me 'woman'. I have a name, ya' know, Grump." He grunted again. Was that all he knew how to do?! I almost screamed as I was picked up and walked to the bed. Daryl threw me on the bed, making me bounce a few times. "What the hell?!" I growled out at him.

"I told ya to take the bed. Are ya sure ya ain't related to Rick instead? God, you're even more hard-headed then Merle!" He grumbled. I was confused. Who was Merle? He wasn't in the group. No one was introduced as Merle. Was it his brother? A friend?

"Who's—"

Daryl didn't give me a chance to even get my question out before he interrupted.

"Keep yer mouth shut and go ta' bed, Len." Daryl growled. I sighed. I didn't want to anger him anymore. I just met him and already I was getting under his skin. In another time, maybe before the dead started walking around, I would have continued to annoy and probe him for answers. I knew better though. In this world, you couldn't have enemies. You needed friends. You needed someone there for you. If you didn't you would go insane. Anyone in their right mind would go insane if they had to face what was outside, above ground, alone. It's a wonder I survived this long. Maybe it was my will to actually live. To find a place to hunker down in and hope this all blows over. I knew though, to get to that safe haven that I wanted so badly, wasn't going to be easy to come by.

I fell asleep, dreaming of the time before the dead. Of the good times with my family and those I loved. I fell asleep, hoping and praying that maybe this place, the CDC, was that safe haven but part of me felt like this was just too good to be true.

**I had originally posted this story on Wattpad but I got no feedback as to how it was so I decided to post it on here. This is the first chapter and I'll be posting the second chapter maybe tomorrow. I have it already written out up until chapter three but I don't want to post them all at the same time just to see if anyone likes the first chapter. **

**-BLArensman xx**


	2. Chapter 2

_**Chapter 2:**_

When I woke in the morning I was alone. Daryl wasn't on the couch. I got up and changed into a pair of jeans and a light t-shirt. I grabbed my sweat jacket out of my bag and slipped it on, zipping it up quickly. It was hot outside because of the Georgian heat, but in the CDC building it was chilly. I wasn't going to take advantage of that. I might have been cold, but I'd rather be cold than hot and sweaty. I walked out of the bedroom and into the dining area where we all had dinner the night before. When I got out there, everyone was there besides a few of the others.

"Good morning, everyone." I said cheerily. Offering a smile to everyone and sitting at the table next to Lori. Rick walked into the room sitting in the seat next to me.

"Mornin'."

"Are you hung over," Carl asked his father with a smirk. I smirked along with him, remembering everyone drinking last night at dinner. "Mom said you'd be."

"Mom is right." I let out a chuckle.

"Mom has that annoying habit." My sister mumbled with a smirk.

"Eggs! Powdered…but I make 'em good!" T-Dog walked away from the stove carrying a skillet full of said eggs and putting some on Glenn's plate. "Protein…helps a hangover." Glenn grumbled.

"Don't ever, ever, _ever_ let me drink again." I laughed at Glenn's obvious discomfort and no doubt headache from the amount of alcohol he consumed last night.

Shane walked into the dining area. As soon as he walked in I could feel tension. It was quiet until T-Dog broke it.

"What the hell happened to you," Shane sat down across the table from me. "Your neck…?"

"Musta done it in my sleep." I raised my eyebrows while looking at his neck and the scratch marks. I didn't know Shane like that but I was pretty sure he didn't do _that_ in his sleep.

"Never seen you do that before." Rick said.

"Me either…not like me at all." I watched as Shane's eyes shifted towards my sister. She looked up at him but quickly looked back down at her plate a few seconds later. What the hell was that? I decided I didn't want to know. It probably wouldn't be something I approved of or even wanted to hear come out of my older sister's mouth.

Lori was never the…brightest. She always got involved in things she shouldn't have. Rick was a great man and a great father. If anything was going on with her and Shane, She better stop it. I told myself I'd speak to her about it later. I continued to eat my breakfast but every few seconds I'd look towards Lori. Every time her head was still down and trained on her food. Soon Jenner appeared.

"Hey, Doc, I don't mean to slam you with questions first thing—" Dale started.

"But you will anyway." I thought he reply was a little rude. He must not be that much of a morning person. Then again, not many were as happy as me in the morning.

"We didn't come here for the eggs." Andrea told him. Jenner lead us to the main floor, where the computers were.

"Give me play back of TS-19." Jenner said while typing a few things in on his computer. The animated voice of Vi brought up the big screen in front of us. On the screen in front of us were four small frames of a brain some zoomed in farther then others and a bigger version showing a face and a brain. "Few people ever got a chance to see this, very few."

"Is that a brain?" Carl asked him.

"An extraordinary one…not that it matters in the end. Take us in for an EIV." Vi expanded stating what an EIV was—an enhanced Internal View—and the bigger frame of the face was zoomed in. The brain had flashing lights in it.

"What are those lights?" Shane asked. I knew what those lights were. I took a course on the brain while I was in college. Who knew it would have come in handy. While everyone looked confused I knew what those lights meant.

"It's a person's life—experiences, memories, it's everything. Somewhere in all that organic wiring, all those ripples of light, is you, the thing that makes you unique—and human."

"You don't make sense, ever?" Daryl accused Jenner.

"Those are synapses—electric impulses in the brain that carry all the messages. They determine everything a person says, does, or thinks from the moment of birth to the moment of death." I explained. Jenner looked at me and nodded.

"Death," Rick questioned Jenner. "That's what this is? A visual?"

"Yes or rather the playback of the visual."

"This person died," Andrea asked, moving closer to the screen. "Who?"

"Test Subject – 19. Someone who was bitten and infected and volunteered for us to record the process. Vi, Scan forward to the first event." I looked up to the screen again, watching as the lights that were flickering so much before grew lesser and lesser. The brain started to get darker.

"What is that?" I asked.

"It invades the brain like Meningitis." The entire brain grew dark, pitch black, as Jenner spoke. I watched as Andrea took deep shallow breathes as Jenner explained what this virus did to the body. He eyes became watery and it looked like at any moment she would start to cry. I bit my lip, something I always did when I felt sadness fall over me.

"She lost somebody two days ago," Lori spoke up. "Her sister." Lori looked at me, her eyes turning sad. I looked away from her. Yesterday I didn't know if my family was alive and two days ago Andrea had lost her sister. I didn't know Andrea at all but I felt sorry for her. Nobody deserves to have to suffer from a dead of a loved one but in this world it was a given. I don't know what I would do if I lost my sister, or Carl, or even Rick. I bit my lip even harder thinking of it.

"I lost somebody too. I know how devastating it is." Jenner spoke to her. "Scan to the second event." I looked away from the group to the screen again. "The resurrection times vary widely. We have reports of it happening in as little as three minutes. The longest we heard of was eight hours. In the case of this patient it was two hours, one minute, seven seconds." Jenner knew the time by heart. I realized that this person, TS-19, was someone very important to Jenner. I felt my chest constrict as the realization dawned on me. This world was just full of sadness and death. Even the living were like death with the amount of it they—we—had to see.

Before, the brain was all dark. Now there were small lights flickering in the brain again. It looked as if the brain was being restarted. "It restarts the brain?" I asked, voicing my thoughts.

"No, just the brain stem." Jenner explained. "Basically it gets them up and moving."

"But they're not alive." Rick stated.

"You tell me." Jenner motioned to the screen. Jenner explained more, "The frontal lobe, the neocortex—the human part, that doesn't come back. The 'you' part. Just a shell driven by mindless instinct." Suddenly a bright light flashed and a streak went through the brain.

"My God, what was that?" Carol asked. I looked at her slightly before answering.

"He shot his patient in the head. Didn't you?" I looked to Jenner. He didn't look at me or answer me. He walked away a little ways before speaking again, only it wasn't to me.

"Vi power down the main screen and the work stations." The screen that held the visual of the brain turned black and the computers turned off.

"You have no idea what it is, do you?" Andrea asked him.

"I could be microbial, viral, parasitic, fungal."

"Or the wrath of God." Jacqui put in.

"There is that." Jenner replied. I wasn't very religious before the world went to hell. I sure as hell wasn't going to become religious in times like this. Maybe God was punishing us. Maybe we're punishing ourselves. I didn't know.

"Somebody must know something. Somebody, somewhere!" Andrea spoke.

"There are others, right? Other facilities?" Carol added.

"There may be some…people like me." Jenner started but was cut off by Rick.

"You don't know? How can you _not_ know?!"

"Everything went down…Communications, directives, all of it. I've been in the dark for almost a month."

"So it's not just here? There's nothing left anywhere? Nothing? That's what you're really saying, right?" I pried. He didn't reply as we all just stared at him, waiting for an answer.

"Man, Imma get shitfaced drunk…again." Daryl said, walking away a little bit, putting his head in his hands, rubbing at his face.

"Doctor Jenner, I know this has been taxing for you and I'd hate one more question but, that clock," Dale pointed to a clock on the wall. "It's counting down. What happens at zero?" I looked at the clock. It changed from one hour to fifty-nine minutes. I bit my lips again, this time out of anxiety. I seemed to be doing that a lot lately.

"The basement generators…they run out of fuel." Jenner said quickly. He was obviously hiding something.

"And then…?" Rick asked. Jenner only walked away. "Vi, what happens when the power runs out?" Vi's voice sounded.

"_When the power runs out Facility wide decontamination will occur._" That was my breaking point. Rick, Shane, T-Dog and Glenn all started to go find the generators but I spoke out.

"Why are you going to go check on the generators? There's less than an hour of fuel left! Jenner! What does facility wide decontamination mean?! Jenner!" The four guys stopped and stared at me, as well as the rest of the group. The lights above flickered before finally turning off. "Jenner what the hell is happening?!" I yelled.

"Zone five is shutting itself down." Was all he said.

"Hey! What tha' hells that mean?!" Daryl called out to Jenner. Jenner ignored him. "Hey, man, I'm talkin' to you! What you mean it's shuttin' itself down? How can a buildin' do anythin'?"

"You'd be surprised." Jenner simply replied. "It was the French." Jenner looked at me.

"What?" I snapped, confused. What did the French have to do with this place shutting itself down?!

"They were the last to hold out as far as I know. While our people were people were bolting out the doors and committing suicide in the hallways, they stayed in the labs until the end. They thought they were close to a solution."

"What happened?" Jacqui asked.

"The same thing that's happening here. No power grid, ran out of juice. The world runs on _fossil fuels_. How stupid is that?!" Shane jumped up to Jenner speaking something. I was too focused on Rick telling us to get our things. I quickly turned around, heading for the room I had shared with Daryl. I was the first one to get into the hallway leading to all of our rooms when I heard the sound of heavy metal closing behind me. I turned quick to see a heavy door closing, separating me from the rest of the group.

"Shit." I started banging on the door. "Open the door! Open it! Open the damned door!" I banged on the door continuously until my hands hurt. "Shit!" I swore. I turned quick and ran to my room. I grabbed my bag quickly before leaving the room. I stopped in the threshold of the door before grumbling and going back in to throw Daryl's bag over my shoulder along with mine. I quickly looked around the room before seeing a crossbow sitting on the couch. I grabbed it taking it with me.

I headed back the way I came before dropping the bags and Daryl's crossbow on the ground. I heard banging coming from the other side. I started to bang on the door again after hearing the muffled voices from the group behind the door. I couldn't make out what they were saying. I could tell they were screaming though. This door was made out of a heavy metal. If they were just speaking to each other I wouldn't have heard them, not even their muffled voices.

I started to panic. Panicking wasn't a good thing to be doing right now but I couldn't help it. I just got back my family after thinking they were gone for so long. I couldn't bear losing them. Whatever was going on in there, whatever reason Jenner decided to close this door, wasn't a good thing. I didn't want to know what decontamination meant. I knew that I was going to be dying alone though. I didn't know how to get out of here. There was obviously a stairwell somewhere, but I didn't have time to look for it. I wasn't goo with direction and I'd get myself lost. I stopped banging on the door walking over to the wall and slid down it, putting my knees up and my head on them. I wrapped my arms around them taking a deep breath. I started to think of all the good times I had before the apocalypse.

I thought of my college graduation. I remember my parents' faces, the happiness and pride was in their eyes as I walked up to get my diploma. I remember Lori's face too. She was already married to Rick at the time and I looked up to her. I hoped to have someone like my sister did. Rick always loved my sister. I don't think anything could stop that man from loving my sister. I wanted that unconditional love she had from Rick. Now that the dead rose up, I wasn't going to be experiencing that.

I thought of the day Carl was born. I was only fifteen when Lori had Carl. There were complications during birth but they both made it out alive, obviously. He was such a cute little boy and he's grown into a handsome young boy. My sister was so lucky to have two amazing boys by her side.

I shook my head and stood up. I had to find a way to get back into that room. I walked to the door to see if there was any way I could get it to open. Just as I walked up to the door, it opened. Daryl was at the door and almost ran into me on his way to get in the hall. I backed up quickly, bending down to get the bags and crossbow. I threw him his stuff and followed him down the hall. The rest of the group got their bags while Daryl, Rick, Shane and T-Dog ran to a stairwell and started running up it. I followed them. We got to the main lobby, glass windows were in front of us. We all took turns trying to break it. Daryl used an axe, T-Dog used a chair, I used the butt of my pistol, and Shane shot at it with a shotgun. It didn't break. There were only scratches left on the window.

"Rick! I have something that might help." Carol came running up to us, a hand in her purse.

"Carol, I don't think a nail file's gonna do it." Shane snapped. I gave him a dirty look. Carol pulled her hand out of her purse, he hand shaking. I gaped at her hand in disbelief.

"You're first morning at camp, when I washed you're uniform…I found this in your pocket." In her hand was a grenade. A _grenade!_ Rick grabbed it and ran to the window. We all ran away from the window, me running to Lori and Carl covering them with my body as Rick pulled the clip on the grenade and dripped it, running towards us. A few seconds later a loud bang sounded along with the sound of glass breaking. We all got up and ran for the window. Daryl was the first out, me second with the help of Daryl. Daryl turned around and started to kill off walkers that were starting to come our way. I helped Carl and Lori out before turning and heading towards where Daryl was going. Ahead, there was a line of cars: an RV, a couple trucks, one with a motorcycle in the back and a jeep.

I let Carl and Lori run ahead of me, following them into the RV, Rick and Glenn behind us. I heard Lori, over the loud beating of my heart and the pounding of my head. I looked to where she was pointing to see Dale and Andrea coming out of the broken window. Rick started to hit the horn while Lori screamed out of the RV's window telling them to get down. I was confused as they all got down covering their heads. Rick pushed my head down right as soon as a heat wave hit us. Right as soon as I felt the immense heat I heard a loud bang. I waited a few seconds before I looked up. The CDC was no longer. IT was a pile of concrete and flames. My jaw dropped. What was _that_? Rick looked up, started the RV and started to drive off. The rest of the cars, I'm assuming, followed.

I didn't know where we were going now. I didn't know where they were before the CDC but I felt as if it was their last hope of safety. The CDC made me realize something...maybe my idea of a safe haven wasn't realistic. In this world, safe didn't exist anymore.

* * *

**_Here's chapter two! Tell me how you like it! I forgot to put a disclaimer on the first chapter so here it is:_**

**_I, BLArensman, do not own the characters of The Walking Dead. I don't own anything affiliated with TWD. I only own Lenni and the plot of Glory & Gore, nothing more, nothing less._**

**_-BLArensman xx_**


	3. Chapter 3

_**Chapter 3:**_

I don't know how long we traveled for. It felt like days but was really only a few hours. The CDC was a bust. Who knew something that was—could have been so promising was doomed from the start? Lori told me what happened at the CDC while I was trapped in the hall. The CDC, filled with all types of viruses, couldn't be left standing. The weaponized organisms needed to be wiped out. The CDC was programmed to self-detonate when it could no longer ensure that those organisms wouldn't get out. The air was set on fire. Jenner and Jacqui stayed behind. I didn't know Jacqui at all but she was a nice woman. Lori told me that Jenner had said the process would be painless. Jacqui couldn't stay in a world of hurt and pain anymore so she chose to stay.

A part of me was glad she stayed. This world was only bound to get worse. She didn't have to worry what was to come next. She was now pain and worry free. She was with the loved ones she lost before and during the apocalypse. I was brought out of thinking of Jacqui by a sputtering sound and the RV slowed to a stop. I stood up, finally taking in my surroundings and where we were through the windshield.

We were on a highway. The highway was littered with cars and other things like disregarded kids' book bags. That made me sad. So many innocent children were taken. They were too innocent for a world like this. I wouldn't be able to have a child in this world. I wouldn't be able to bring a child into this world where they would get hurt. I couldn't do it. I could take care of myself and that was a task. Having to watch and take care of a child normally and on top of that having to make sure they were safe from the flesh eating dicks outside…no it was too much.

Dale, who was driving, swore once the RV stopped completely. I looked to him as he mumbled about how he 'said it' while slamming the RV door open. I chuckled a little but didn't follow him out. Shane, Glenn, and T-Dog did though.

"Problem, Dale?" I heard Shane ask from outside.

"Oh, just a small matter of being stuck in the middle of nowhere with no hope of—okay, that was dumb." I heard Dale say. We may have been in the middle of nowhere but we did have hope of finding a part to fix the RV. I decided to walk outside now. I needed to stretch my legs. Who knew how much longer we'd be traveling and not stopping. I followed Lori, Carol and the kids to help look for clothing and other things. T-Dog went to syphon fuel from the cars that were surrounding us. Glenn started to work on the RV while Shane, Dale and Rick took watch. Who knew where Daryl was and Andrea went back into the RV. While we were all out doing something useful she was sitting in the comfort of the RV. I've been with them for a few hours and already I'm sick of Andrea. I scowled as I moved from car to car trying to find something we could use.

Every other car or so there was something useful, like a pack of cigarettes or some ammo. I found a knife in one car. I tucked it in the back of my pants and quickly moved on to another car. A little while passed when Rick was running over to us, urgently but quietly yelling at us to get under the cars. Carl was next to me so I quickly grabbed him pulling him under a random car with me. I watched as Lori pulled Carol down and under a car and Rick went under another. Sophia was all alone a few cars down from me. She too got under the car quickly. I didn't know what was going on but with Rick acting like he did, I knew it wasn't good.

No sooner than I thought that, I heard the dragging of feet, of many feet and periodically a low growl. I watched as hundreds of feet dragged and stumbled passed mine and Carl's heads. I knew it wasn't good but I didn't know it was this bad. If anyone made a sound we'd all be done for it. Despite the shitty world we were in, I wasn't too keen on dying today because a filthy flesh eater wants to take a bite out of me.

Through the feet I could see Carol silently crying while looking at Sophia. I felt for Carol. Not much space was between her and her daughter but I was guessing it felt like hundreds of thousands of miles to her.

The amount of feet was slowly thinning out. It felt like an eternity for them to go through. I was confused to see so many outside of the city though, especially in this big of a group. They were starting band together and I didn't like that one bit. I watched as Sophia made a move to get out from under the car. I tried to get her attention but she wasn't looking at me. Slowly, she started to scoot out from under the car. It was too late. There were too stragglers that had seen Sophia. She started to scoot to the other side under the car as one of the walkers got down on the ground and started going to her.

"_Stay here."_ I told Carl as I crawled out from under the car to get Sophia. Rick was behind me thinking the same thing as me. The two walkers followed Sophia over the guardrail and down the side of a hill into the woods next to the highway. I followed after Sophia and the walkers with Rick trailing behind me. I picked up my speed and so did Rick as we seen the walkers gaining on her.

"We need to get Sophia before we can get rid of the walkers!" I told my brother-in-law. He nodded. Sophia was to our left and we decided to get in front of her and cut her off before Rick would get rid of the walkers. I didn't like that but it was the only way we could ensure that Sophia would be okay. Rick got to Sophia first, grabbing her. She made a move to grab his pistol that was on his side but he told her no. If those walkers on the road heard a gunshot they'd come back this way. We'd put not only us in danger but the group back on the road in danger. There were only two walkers now, but we would be nothing again that herd. Rick picked up Sophia and we ran. The walkers were still following us so we needed get rid of them. We came up on a creek and we jumped into it. We saw the base of a tree where the roots came out and over the river's bank and into the water. Rick told us to hide under there while he led the walkers away. I told him we could both do that but he insisted I stay with Sophia. I nodded and pulled Sophia under the cover with me. WE both watched as Rick led the walkers away from us. Once I figured it was safe, I walked out, grabbing Sophia's hand and pulling her with me back towards the highway.

We were almost back when I heard multiple moans coming from in front of us. I couldn't see them but they were there. I looked around before finding what I was looking for. I pulled Sophia with me to a tree.

"Listen to me, okay? Get up in that tree and don't come down until I come and get you. Understand?" Sophia nodded and I quickly helped her get up and out of view and reach of any walker. After a few seconds, two walkers came out from behind the trees. I was only hoping there would be one but luck wasn't with me today. I went to reach for the knife tucked in my pants but came up empty.

"You have _got_ to be kidding me." I looked on the ground for anything I could use as the walkers were coming closer to me. I spotted a rock with a sharp edge a few feet from me and ran to grab it. As the walkers were getting closer to me, they were getting closer to each other too. I hit one with the rock sending it falling to the ground but because they were so close to each other, it gave the other one an opportunity to grab me. It knocked me to the ground, my head bounced off of something hard. I didn't have time to think of what it was as I used the rock to bash the walkers' skull in. I felt the other walker fall on top of the now _really_ dead walker. I pushed on the dead walker to free my hand with the rock in it. I have no idea what it was other than pure coincidence that my arms were long enough to reach the other walkers head and that I had enough strength to drive the pointed rock into the walkers skull. I pulled myself out from under the now two dead walkers with a struggle. When I stood up the world began to spin. I shook my head thinking it would help but it didn't. It only made things worse.

I pushed through it, going up to the tree where Sophia was. I wouldn't have known where she was if she hadn't gotten down from the tree.

"I thought I told you to stay there until I got you?" I asked her. She looked at me. I wasn't sure which 'Sophia' was the real Sophia seeing as there was three of them. They all were wearing a scared expression. I instantly felt bad.

"I-I saw you go down. And your arm's bleeding. I was going to help…" She said in a small voice. I looked down at my arm to see it was in fact bleeding. I grimaced. I didn't even feel it. Now that I didn't have any adrenaline running through my veins, I actually felt my head pounding. I brought my hand up to behind my head and pulled it back when I felt wetness. A red substance was on the tip of my fingers. I frowned. That's why I was dizzy and not able to see right. I nodded at Sophia not wanting to speak since all she was going to do was help. Her caring personality could get her killed. I wasn't going to tell her that though. I grabbed her hand and pulled her along with me in the direction of the highway.

After a few hours of walking I knew that we weren't going in the right direction. Sophia had run out pretty far into the woods but we should have been there already. I looked down at Sophia. She was tired, I could see it. I don't know how much longer she could walk but I knew we had to keep going. We had to find some type of shelter before dark.

Everything looked the same in the day time, I wouldn't be able to see anything at night and seeing as how I've already gotten me and a little girl lost in the woods where anything could be I didn't want to increase the bad luck I've already had. My arm was still bleeding and my head was still pounding. My vision cleared up a little bit. I wasn't seeing three of anything anymore at least. The world was still spinning though. I've never had a concussion, I didn't know if this was a symptom of a concussion but I knew it wasn't good. I couldn't protect myself let alone Sophia if the world didn't stop spinning soon.

We walked for another hour at most before I spoke. Me and Sophia didn't speak at all and I felt bad. She was away from her mother with me. She didn't know me so I understand her hesitance. "How old are you, Sophia?" I started.

"I'm twelve, Miss Gilbert." I smiled at her. She was a well-mannered little girl. She smiled up at me. "How old are you?"

"I'm twenty-seven. You don't have to call me Miss Gilbert sweetie. Just call me Lenni, okay?" She smiled up at me again, nodding. "Are you tired?" I asked. She shook her head but I knew she was lying. She ran from two walkers and then continuously walked for hours. I was tired so I knew she was. Just as I was going to tell her we could stop for the night, I seen an opening though the trees ahead of us a little ways. I sighed in happiness. I grinned down at Sophia and she grinned back at me. We both picked up our paces. I hoped we had found the highway. Maybe we were up a ways? As we broke through the trees, I seen it wasn't the highway. It was a farm house. There were people—hopefully—walking around outside. They didn't notice us yet and I hoped that if they did, they wouldn't be bad people. As we got closer, they were actually living human beings. As we got closer they noticed us too. I pulled Sophia to a stop next to me. She was scared.

"Who are you?" I heard a woman call out. She had a tan complexion and short curly brown hair. Her voice was tinged with the southern accent. "Are you bit? Is the little girl bit?" I didn't move any closer but she slowly walked towards us. As she spoke, an older gentleman came out of the house. He had suspenders on and his hair was white. He too had a tan complexion. I told her no. She came closer. "What happened? Your arm is bleeding." I looked down to see dried and fresh blood down my arm. I looked back up.

"We got separated from our group when a herd of walkers came through. We ran into more on our way back to our group. I fought them off but I fell, cut my arm and hurt my head." I told her a summarized, almost true, story. She nodded and led us to where the older man was on the porch.

"How long have you been walking with those wounds?" The older man asked.

"A few hours at most." He walked to us. I pulled Sophia closer to me and she wrapped her arms around my waist, clinging to me. He looked in my eyes and then my arm.

"You're pupils are dilated so you could have a concussion. You said you hit your head?" I nodded and he looked at my arm. "This needs to be cleaned so it doesn't get infected. Follow me." He started to walk back into the house. I didn't follow him. I didn't know this man. I didn't know the woman. "I won't hurt you. I'm trying to help you. My name is Hershel. This is my daughter," he motioned to the brown haired girl who spoke to us first. "Maggie. We can help you." I looked at him for a few seconds. I looked down at Sophia. Her eyes were big. This was the only place we could use for shelter right now. I couldn't take her back out and be a hundred percent sure that I could protect her. Not if I do have a concussion. I looked back up at the two strangers and nodded.

"My name's Lenni and this is Sophia." I introduced us. Sophia let go of me when Maggie offered Sophia something to eat. I was following behind them when I felt something wasn't right. My vision started to become fuzzy and started to spin once again, worse this time. Quickly, I felt myself falling and then everything was black.

* * *

_**Here's chapter three! I just finished it and I was going to wait until tomorrow to post it but I couldn't wait. This was my favorite chapter to write. The highway scene was one of my favorite from the show so I enjoyed writing it. I might have butchered it though, and if I did, I'm sorry. The chapter was supposed to be longer but I figured this was the better place to end the chapter than what I had originally planned. I hope you liked it! :)**_

_**-BLArensman xx**_


	4. Chapter 4

_**Chapter 4:**_

I don't know how long I stayed in the darkness but soon I came too. I expected to be lying on the hard ground feeling worse than before I passed out, but it was the opposite. I was lying on something soft, a bed maybe. I didn't feel as worn out but there remnants of the soreness were still there.

I opened my eyes and looked around. I was in a bed, in a strange room. It took me a little while to remember what happened. _Horde coming through, Sophia running off, me and Rick following her, fighting off the walkers, getting hurt, finding the farm house, and then blackness._ I sat up, getting dizzy because of the force. I stayed still until the dizziness disappeared. I moved my feet to the edge of the bed, letting them slowly touch the ground. I stood up once I knew I wouldn't fall back down. I looked out of the window that was in the room, seeing the sun shining over the land. The outside world was calm and beautiful. It's like there weren't dead walking around trying to satisfy their hunger. I sighed, moving away from the window to go find Sophia. I searched the entire house, not finding Sophia. I found a woman. She was a pretty with curly blonde hair. She was older, maybe in her late forties.

"Where is Sophia? The little girl?" I asked her. She smiled politely at me.

"She's outside with Maggie. She's taken quite a likin' to Maggie." I nodded at her turning to go find Sophia. I found them outside playing catch. I smiled at the sight. It really was like nothing was wrong in the world. Although this place felt safe I knew it could all disappear in a second. The CDC proved that. We couldn't stay here anyways. We needed to find the group. Sophia needed to be with her mother. Who knows what they were all thinking and doing right now. They were probably out trying to find the little girl. Suddenly I was hit with guilt. If I had just paid attention, if I wasn't stupid enough to forget which way was the way back to the highway, Sophia would be with her mother. Carol was probably in hysterias thinking the worst.

"Where is everyone?" I asked as I got closer to the duo and they noticed me, Sophia throwing a smile and wave in my direction. I returned it, forgetting about the guilt that was coursing though me at the moment.

"Daddy, Beth, my sister, and Jimmy, her boyfriend, are out with the horses. Otis is out hunting and Patricia, Otis's wife, should be inside." I nodded to her, letting her know I seen Patricia. I need to get information out of Maggie—or someone—about getting back to the group. I didn't know where we were in comparison to the highway and the place we had stopped. I had to get Sophia back to Carol soon.

"Can I speak to you for a second?" Maggie hesitantly nodded, telling Sophia she'd be right back.

"What's do you need?" She asked.

"Before I got us, me and Sophia, lost in the woods, we were with a group. Her mother is there. I need to get her back," Maggie looked at me before nodding. "The problem is, I don't know which way is the right way to get back to them…" I admitted not looking at her.

"I know this area well. I can take you if you tell me where your group is."

"We were on a highway. I don't know which one." Maggie smiled.

"There's only one highway near here. That has to be the one your group is at. You travelled on foot, with injuries; you couldn't have been that far." I sighed in happiness. I can finally do something good and get her back to Carol. "Do you want to leave now? We can take the horses." I nodded. The sooner the better. It wasn't that late in the day either so it wouldn't be that dangerous. She turned before stopping and staring out towards the woods that Sophia and I had come out of before. I spotted what she was looking at before gasping. Someone was running with a person, a child maybe, in their arms. The person running had a sheriff's hat and uniform on.

"Dad!" Maggie screamed out. As they got closer I realized who they were. I felt dread fill me. My eyes started to water and soon tears were flowing steadily. Hershel came out from where the horses were.

"Was he bit?" Hershel asked. I closed my eyes as Rick slowed his running to a walk as he came closer to the house, Carl in his arms.

"Shot, by your man." He gasped out. Patricia asked if it was Otis.

"He said find Hershel. Is that you? Help! Help my boy!" Hershel led Rick inside. I followed behind. Rick didn't notice me or Sophia yet. Hershel brought Rick into the room I was in earlier. I looked at Rick as he got a pillow cases like Hershel ordered him too. His face was drained of all color and he looked like he was in a daze. I looked down at an unconscious Carl. I felt more tears make their way down my face as I looked at my nephew. _Where the hell is Lori?!_

As Hershel, Patricia, Maggie and Beth all worked on Carl, Hershel told Rick to leave and give them room. He hesitated. I walked over to him, grabbing his arm. He looked down at me, his eyes on focused. I pulled him out of the room. They took care of me and Sophia so I knew they'd do the same for Carl. Beth followed us out, asking Sophia if she wanted to go play catch again. She hesitated, looking into the room where Carl was before nodding. Beth took Sophia's hand, leading her outside. I followed them, pulling Rick with me. He still hasn't comprehended that it was me and Sophia here, but I didn't blame him. I, too, was worried about Carl. As we got outside, Shane and an overweight man came running up to the front steps. Shane asked Rick to take him to Carl. Rick turned right back around and led him back in to the room. I followed behind. When we got into the room, Hershel asked the man, who I assumed was Otis, what happened.

"I was—was trackin' a buck…bullet went right through it, went clean through…" He explained.

"The deer slowed the bullet down which certainly saved his life…but it did not go through clean. It broke up into pieces. If I can get the bullet fragments out, and I'm countin' six…"

"Lori doesn't know. My wife doesn't know. My wife doesn't know!" Rick put his hand up to his face as his words broke at the end and quickly started to cry. I walked out of the room then. I walked outside to where Sophia and Beth were. I sat there watching them throw a ball back and forth for a while before Rick, Shane, Maggie and Otis came out of the house. Rick didn't look like he was in a haze anymore and finally he seen me.

"Lenni? Lenni is that—" Rick started before pulling me from my sitting position into a hug. I hugged him back, seeing Shane smile over Ricks shoulder. I nodded to him. They both noticed Sophia too. I noticed Maggie was heading towards the barn where the horses were. I called out to her. She turned around before answering me.

"Rick wants us to get his wife." I ran to her deciding to go along to get Carol too. She deserved to know her daughter was alright.

We headed to the horses, saddling them up and setting out. As we were going, Maggie told me that Shane and Otis were going to the high school to get medical equipment that Hershel needed to perform the surgery to get the bullet fragments out of Carl. We sped through the woods, between trees and obstacles on the ground. When I was younger I always wanted to ride a horse so when one of my friends in high school invited me to go horseback riding, I went. I learned and every so often I would go again. I missed riding. As we were riding, we heard a scream. We looked at each other before making the horses run faster in the direction of the scream. Up ahead we saw the person who was screaming and a walker. The woman was on the ground screaming bloody murder while the walker was standing up gripping her legs. Maggie sped up in front of me and swung the bat she brought with her at the walkers head, knocking it away from the woman on the ground. As I got closer I seen it was Andrea.

"Lori? Lori Grimes?" Maggie said as four people came running towards us. It was Daryl, Glenn, Carol and Lori.

"I'm Lori." Lori spoke.

"Rick sent us. You've got to come now. There's been an accident. Carl's been shot. He's still alive but you've got to come now." Lori looked to me and I nodded my head. She jumped on the back of Maggie's horse. I looked to the group and they were all looking at me. I looked at Carol. She looked defeated, no doubt from seeing me and not having Sophia with me.

"Sophia is fine, Carol. Get on." I watched as Carol's eyes brimmed with tears before they rolled down her cheeks.

"She's okay? My baby's okay?!" I smiled at her and nodded. She didn't hesitate getting on the back of my horse.

"Back track to Fairburn Road, two miles down is our farm. You'll see the name, it's Greene." Maggie told them, before taking off. I followed behind her quickly, knowing Carol wanted and needed to be reunited with Sophia as soon as possible. As we rode away, I saw the faces of Andrea, Glenn and Daryl. None of them knew how to react. They stood there as we rode away with Lori and Carl. One reunion bound to be sweet, the other, an anxious waiting game.

* * *

**_Here's chapter four. I know this chapter is a lot shorter than the others and I'm sorry. I wrote this today when I came back from taking my SATs. It was ridiculous, the test, and I needed an outlet and so I wrote. I was going to wait to post this, and it be longer but I won't be posting(most likely) until maybe next week because until the 9th I'll be super busy. I have an AP English exam on the 9th so I get excused from the rest of my classes that day. Until then, I'll be studying and getting ready for that exam. I didn't want to make anyone wait for the next chapter for so long. I might post before Friday, the 9th, but I'm not sure. I didn't want to keep you guys waiting to long. but anyways, I'm seriously rambling and I'm sorry. I hope you liked this chapter! _**

**_- BLArensman xx_**


	5. Chapter 5

_**Chapter 5:**_

As we rode back to the farm, no one said anything. My sister was quiet, probably thinking the worse. Who could blame her? Carl meant a lot to this family. He had a way of making everyone get along, to forget bad things. He was such a lively kid. I hoped this world never changed it, but I knew that it wasn't possible. This world was going to rob him of his childhood. He wasn't going to experience the things me and Lori did, or Rick, or anyone. He wasn't going to be able to go outside running and exploring without fear. He'd need to know self-defense. He needed to know how to shoot, how to use a knife. I would teach him whether Lori and Rick approve or not. I wasn't having my nephew go back out here and be defenseless. If he didn't know these things, he'd be even more vulnerable then he already was.

When we got back to the farm, Rick and Hershel were standing on the porch talking. They stopped when they saw us all riding towards them. Rick left the porch and Lori got off the horse once Maggie stopped it. She started to cry and her and Rick held each other tightly.

"Where's my baby girl? Where's Sophia?" Carol asked. I made the horse stop and she climbed off. Hershel motioned for her to follow him and they went in to the house. I followed Maggie to the stables. We got off and led the horses back into their stables.

"I thought the little girl was yours…" Maggie started. I looked at her and shook my head. I decided I could trust Maggie. She went to go get Lori for Rick and I sure it wouldn't matter what she knew.

"No…On the highway, a big herd of Walkers came through. We had to hide and we were good until Sophia started to leave her hiding spot. She didn't see the two stragglers; no one did until we heard her scream. I followed her with Rick while everyone else stayed behind. We got separated and here we are." Maggie nodded.

"It was nice of you to go after her and make sure she was okay." I nodded as thanks. "What did you do before this all happened?" I grinned.

"Guess!" I always liked to have people guess what I did. I always had people guess before shit hit the fan and I sure as hell wasn't going to stop. I needed a form of entertainment in days like this anyways. Maggie looked at me like I'd grown two heads before finally giving in and smiling. She was silent as we walked back to the house. Suddenly she grabbed my arm.

"A police officer?" She was smiling. I shook my head laughing.

"Nope. That was all Rick and Shane. I wouldn't be able to deal with the pricks they did before and not get in trouble for beating the living hell out of someone." Me and Maggie laughed as we walked into the house. We quickly stopped after hearing voices coming from another room. We followed the voices into the kitchen.

"Otis? The idiot who shot my son." _Oh, hell_, I thought as I heard Lori speak.

"Ma'am, it _was_ an accident." Hershel spoke.

"I'll take that under advisement later. Right now, he's the idiot who shot my son."

"Lori, they're doing everything they can." Rick always seen the good in people. I knew Lori was upset and scared but even I knew they were trying their hardest. I didn't know exactly what happened but the people of this farm were beyond nice. They've taken us in and fixed us up. That's good enough in my book, but in Lori's? They still had a long way before she even thanked them for helping us all. That's where Lori and I were very different. Lori almost lost it when Hershel told them that he was a Veterinarian and not a combat veteran. He had medical training in some form, and that's all that counts. I knew for a fact that Carl would pull through no matter what. He was like his daddy. He was strong and so was Carl.

"You're completely in over your head, aren't you?" Lori asked him.

"Aren't we all?" Hershel retorted back. It was completely true. Every single one of us was way over our head and knee-deep in something we might not get out of.

* * *

Carl's health was slowly diminishing. His pressure was going down and if Shane and Otis didn't come back soon with the respirator Hershel was going to have to proceed without it. My belief in him making it out of this was slowly decreasing. It was hard to be optimistic now. I could stay inside the house anymore. While I was happy Carol and Sophia were reunited, it was hard to see such a happy moment while my nephew was lying on his death bed. I decided to go outside and wait for Shane and Otis to come back and for the rest of the group to come here. Maggie followed me outside.

"I'm sorry about your nephew. He'll be fine though. Otis and your guy will be back. They'll have the things my daddy needs." I appreciated her trying to keep my spirits up. I could see us becoming good friends, I hoped. I changed the subject.

"What did you do before the break out?" I asked her.

"I helped work my daddy's farm."

"That's it? Didn't you wanna get out? Get away?" I asked her. Before she could answer me we heard the sound of tires hitting the dirt road. We could see the lights off in the distance and hear the rubble of a motorcycle. I didn't realize it was even dark out until now. I didn't know I was out of it _that_ much.

Glenn and T-Dog got out of Carol's Cherokee. Dale and Andrea got out of the RV when Dale parked it next to the tree in front of the Greene's home. Daryl turned off his bike next to the RV and got off. Glenn and T-Dog walked towards the house, everyone else was straggling behind. I noticed something was wrong with T-Dog. He had a blanket over his shoulders and he was sweating. He looked tired and just overall beat. I saw something white flash when he moved his arm briefly. I looked up at him, my eyes wide. He couldn't have gotten bit. No, not T-Dog…He caught me looking at his arm.

"It's not a bite. I cut myself pretty bad." He told us catching Maggie looking at it too.

"We'll have it looked at." Maggie told him, making her way towards the front door. Glenn pulled out some pills and antibiotics saying we could use them for Carl. Maggie led them inside, speaking louder, "I'll make you all somethin' to eat." The rest of the group followed her inside. Dale and Daryl stayed outside.

"We all thought you and Sophia were gone. I'm so happy to see you alive. I'm so happy you were able to keep Sophia alive. It would have torn this group apart if we would have lost the both of you." Dale spoke. I looked up at him.

"That little girl is special. I couldn't not make sure she was kept alive." I simply stated. I wasn't with the group long, I wasn't that special. Sure, Lori, Rick and Carl might have been worried about me but the rest were only worried about Sophia. I know it would be. No one knew for certain that I was with her. We could have gotten separated and that would have been my worst fear. For a little girl to be out there in the woods by herself, that was a scary thought. "You guys should go get something to eat. You haven't had a proper meal since the CDC. You've got to be hungry." I motioned them to go inside. They both hesitated but went inside anyways, Daryl being the most hesitant. I didn't know him but from what I've seen at the CDC and now, he tried his best to be as far away from people as he could. Going inside was probably the last thing he wanted to do but even the big bad Grump needed to eat every once in a while.

A few hours later I was still sitting outside. Daryl came out a while ago, saying he was going to do a sweep to see if anything was near. I knew he just wanted to be alone like I did. The sound of tires made me look up from the ground and stop my prayers. I was never religious but now seemed a good time as ever.

A blue truck came down the road towards the house. It's head lights blinding me but I knew it was Shane and Otis. It was the truck they took. If they had all the things Hershel needed to save Carl then God would have answered my prayers. He would be on our side, or at least Carl's. If anyone deserved to live it was that little boy. I watched as the truck was shut off and Shane came out. Otis wasn't in the car and I felt sad. No one else needed to die in this horrible world but it seemed as if as the days went by the world got uglier.

Everyone piled out of the house and Daryl came from around back, hearing the truck. Shane handed two bags to Hershel and Glenn.

"Otis?" Hershel asked. Shane shook his head and mumbled out a 'no'. "No one tell Patricia, not until after. I need her." Hershel turned around and walked fast back into the house, Glenn following him with the other bag. Rick hugged Shane, asking him something.

"…They kept blockin' us man. Every turn, we had nothin' left," Shane's voice got louder with every word he spoke. "He said he'd cover me, said I should keep goin' so that's what I did! I just—I kept goin' but I…I looked back and he just—I tried—" I looked at Shane. I knew Shane. Something wasn't adding up. I looked at him, I _really looked_ at him. It wasn't Shane. Ever since the CDC something was different in Shane. He wasn't the Shane I knew from school, from before the dead started roaming. I seen two pistols on Shane's hip and I knew his story wasn't all true. One pistol was his; the other was the pistol that Rick gave Otis. I followed everyone inside. Hershel and Patricia were working on Carl and I just hoped everything went fine. I wanted to go in the room but I knew I'd just be in the way. As soon as I walked inside, I turned around and went back out. It was too suffocating in the house.

It was a nice night out despite the turmoil the group was facing. It seemed as if everywhere we went, trouble and heartache followed us. I don't know how long I sat out there for, forgetting everything around me, but I was brought out of my state when I heard crying from inside the house. I was guessing they told Patricia about Otis. I felt for her. I didn't know what it felt like to lose a husband or anyone I loved. They had died before the outbreak and now the only ones who mattered were here and they were alive. I couldn't imagine how it felt to have someone taken away from you so suddenly. I heard the door behind me open and heavy footsteps. I jumped then looked up to see Daryl standing over me. I put my hand to my chest, taking a deep breath.

"You scared me." I dropped my hand and looked away.

"Sorry," He huffed out. Gosh, this man. Did he ever do anything but huff out his words? "Yer nephew is stable now, I guess. No one came out to tell ya so I figured somebody oughtta." I nodded to him, getting up from where I was sitting on the porch steps.

"Is he awake?" Daryl shook his head. I sighed, sitting back down where I previously was. I wouldn't be able to rest until he woke and it wouldn't do me any good to sit in the room and stare until he woke up.

"Are ya okay?" Daryl asked. He didn't huff it out or ask in a sarcastic and rude manner. I snapped my head to him. He was sitting down next to me on the stairs. I didn't answer him so he looked to me. "What, woman?" I shook my head.

"I didn't think you'd ever ask someone if they were okay, Grump. I'm fine, though, just exhausted." I answered him truthfully.

"Get some sleep then, woman. You ain't gotta stay out here and take watch. Go be with yer nephew or somethin'."

"I won't be able to sleep until he wakes up and I know he's fine, until then I'll be here. It's too…crowded in there anyway." Daryl nodded, understanding where I was coming from no doubt. I became curious about Grump. "What'd you do before shit hit the fan, Grump?" I asked him. I watched as he tensed up. I raised an eyebrow at him. He shrugged. _Okay, _I thought. I shook my head. "You're not sure?" I let out a laugh. I watched as the corner of his mouth twitched, like he wanted to smile, maybe even laugh, but changed his mind at the last minute. I decided that I was going to crack this man's walls. There was a reason why he kept to himself and spoke little and I was going to find out. "Alright then. Grump doesn't know what he did before…Fair enough."

"What'd you do then Miss Nosey?" Daryl huffed out. I rolled my eyes.

"Guess." I told him. Daryl gave me an Are-You-Serious face and I grinned at him.

"What? Are ya five or somethin'?" He asked me. I shook my head still grinning at him. "A bartender?" He guessed. I laughed.

"I was when I was in college but that was a few years ago." I told him. "I used to make kick-ass drinks though…What I would do for some good ole straight Bourbon right about now."

"You look like a Peach Snaps type a girl. Bourbon would knock ya on yer ass."

"If we find some Bourbon, I'll make you eat your words, Dixon." I told him with a smirk. _Even during the apocalypse people thought I couldn't handle my liquor!_ Grump shook his head a small smile appearing on his face. I looked behind me, seeing Shane. I looked back ahead of me before speaking.

"Did you hear Shane explain what happened to Otis?" I asked Daryl, my voice barely above a whisper. Daryl looked at me, confused.

"Yeah, why?" He asked. His eyebrows were furrowed and he looked at me intently.

"Hey, Len. Can I speak to you?" I swallowed. I looked behind me seeing Shane looking at me. He looked pissed. My throat dried up. I nodded, not trusting my voice. Shane always scared me when he got angry. He was never the nicest person, especially towards me. I knew he liked my sister and he knew I knew. He always looked at her, even after she married Rick, even after she had Carl. I confronted him and he didn't like it. I stayed away from him after that for years. He walked out of the house, down the steps and he started to go towards the back of the house. As he passed Daryl he spoke to him.

"You can go back inside, bro. Me and Lennox can take watch." Daryl hesitated but went inside. I closed my eyes. _Thanks Grump._ I took a deep breath and followed Shane behind the house. He had to have heard what I asked Daryl. Once we were completely in the dark Shane twisted around and pushed me against the side of the farm house. I noticed that his head was shaved.

"Don't you ever learn, Len? I warned you the last time you got into my business, didn't I?" It was a replay of when I confronted him about his obsession with my sister. This was Shane's way of keeping himself "powerful". He always belittled anyone who was a threat to him. I was surprised he hasn't belittled my brother-in-law yet.

"And what are you gonna do Shane? You think all will be fine and dandy if you 'get rid of me'?" I rolled my eyes at him, trying to act like his threat from years ago didn't affect me. "They're not stupid. Daryl just seen us walk away together, you think he won't say something to anyone if you came back without me?" I spit at him.

"That stupid backwoods redneck won't do shit. He's been lost without his dumbass, racist brother of his. He don't care about you, or anyone, enough to open his mouth. He ain't stupid like you either…getting' in my business."

"Oh, shove it Shane! The only one who won't do shit is you!" Shane's hand came up to my throat and his fingers wrapped around it. He tightened his hold and I felt air leaving my body and none coming in. My hand reached up, grabbing a hold of his wrist, trying to pull it off and away from me.

"Don't underestimate me sweetheart. We're not in the same world as we were. I got more than enough things willing to kill you for me." With that he let go of me. I took a deep breath to get oxygen back in me. Shane walked off and I heard the front door open and shut and then footsteps. I looked up seeing Daryl walking towards me. Earlier he didn't have his crossbow and now he did.

"Are you okay?" He asked me for the second time in just a few minutes. I let out a short and forced laugh.

"Yeah, fine."

"You should like you got the wind knock outta ya." Daryl pointed out. I put a smile on my face.

"That's what happens when you're kissing someone like you're life depends on it." I couldn't let anyone know what happened and that was the first thing that came to me. I wasn't scared of Shane but more of what he was capable of. Shane would do anything he could to make sure he can out on top and I didn't want anyone to get involved. I wasn't letting it go, but I had to be more careful about when and how I brought it up to anyone. Once Daryl's face went emotionless, I knew Daryl wasn't the one I could tell my concerns about Shane too. He shook his head and started to walk away.

"Next time you wanna hook up with yer boy toy, don't make it seem like he was gonna murder ya. What'd ya wanna tell me about his story anyways?" He threw over his shoulder with a grunt.

"Nothing." I told him, walking passed him and into the house to sit with my nephew and wait for him to wake up. I regretted my lie immediately. I didn't need to be tied to him in anyway but I knew that Daryl wouldn't tell anyone. I stayed in Carl's room all night just waiting for him to wake up and wishing that the world hadn't gone to shit so I could have stayed far away from Shane Walsh as I could.

* * *

_**Here's chapter five! It's the longest chapter so far but I hope it wasn't boring or just dragged on. Tell me what you think! Leave a review! It'd be nice to hear some more feedback. Constructive criticism is welcomed! :) Anyways, I hope you all like it! **_

_**-BLArensman xx**_


	6. Chapter 6

_**Chapter 6:**_

Daryl avoided me like the plague after that night. It wasn't anything new but it did put a hold on my goal to break his walls down. It was going to take a long time to do it and now it was going to take even longer.

Carl woke up early the next morning after that night. It's been a few days since then. With well over ten mouths to feed, the Greene farm was all out of food. Someone needed to make a run out into the town nearby. Maggie was the one who used to go out all the time before so Glenn and I were tagging along with her. We needed enough food to feed the small army we basically had here so two extra bags and sets of hands would do good. Maggie and I were handed a list and we set off for the town.

"I've been in the town a few times. There aren't many walkers around. We should be able to get in and get out." Maggie said after us riding for a few minutes, each of us on our own horse. It didn't take that long for us to get to the small town and Maggie was right. There were only a few walkers around. Maggie and I took care of them because we had the quietest weapons. Maggie had her bat and I had a crowbar. I pulled the list out of my front pocket, looking at it. I was in charge of finding the food. Maggie and Glenn went into the small pharmacy and I went to the small convenient store.

I looked at the outside of the store. There were a few spots where it looked like blood was smeared. The windows were covered in dirt and that made it a little difficult to see inside. I tightened my grip on the crowbar before walking through the doors. I checked the place out before I looked for the food that was on the list. I don't know why they even gave me a list. It was close to impossible to find everything on the list. They'd just have to deal with what I was able to get. I checked the front of the store finding nothing but dead corpses. I drove my crowbar into each skull just to make sure that none would pop up—none did, thank God. I went down each aisle looking for the things on the list and anything that was still good. There wasn't much but I found almost all the things on the list and I even found a few chocolate bars. I pocketed the three of them to give to Sophia and Carl. I grabbed a couple Slim Jims that were left also and headed out of the store. Maggie and Glenn weren't out of the Pharmacy yet so I dropped the bag near the horses before walking in to look for them.

"Oh my go—I'm sorry!" I turned my back to Maggie and Glenn who were just getting dressed. Maggie's hair was messed up and I knew what they just did. I walked out of the Pharmacy and walked to the horses. I got on the horse, the bag on my shoulder and I waited for them to come out.

The ride back to the farm was quiet and awkward. I didn't really know _what_ to say—what to say to _them_. I was a little jealous. Maggie got some action. I laughed out loud. Maggie and Glenn both looked at me. I shook my head at them but continued to smile. We were almost to the farm when I seen them talking.

"It was only a one-time thing!" Maggie said then rode a little faster than Glenn and me. I grimaced and picked up speed on the horse. I pat Glenn on the back, giving him a small smile.

* * *

Later that night, after dinner and after everyone was in their tents I stayed up. Carl woke up a few times but fell asleep after a few minutes. I missed each time he was up so I couldn't give him the chocolate bar. I gave Sophia hers after dinner. It didn't matter anymore really but I'm sure Carol still believed in no "dessert" before dinner and I didn't want an angry mother on my case. Sophia looked as if she was given the most valuable thing in the world, which I guess, under the circumstances, it probably was.

I saw a shadow pass by my tent and I shot up from my position on the ground. I looked through the little "window" in the tent. Lori was walking out into the field by herself. I watched as she stopped and looked behind her before pulling something from the back of her pants. It looked like a little bag of some sort but I wasn't sure. It was pitch black out there and she was a few hundred yards away from me which made it hard to see what it was.

I only had my tank top on so I grabbed a shirt and quickly threw it on before slipping on a pair of boots Maggie had given me. I walked out of my tent and towards Lori. As I got closer I saw that she was crying. I ran over to her.

"Lor, what's a' matter? Are you okay? Is Carl—is Carl okay?" She nodded her head as I pulled her into a hug. "Then what's wrong?" She didn't answer me; instead she started to cry harder. I tightened my hold on her. I've only seen her cry like this a few times. When our mother and father died, when Rick was shot, when Carl was shot and now. I couldn't be good and all I could do was think the worst. We hugged for a while before she stopped crying. She pulled away from me, looking out into the darkness. I looked with her. The unknown was always something that I didn't like, something that scared me. There was enough unknown before the dead woke up and now there was even more. I sighed. Lori looked to me before picking something off the ground and handing it to me. I looked down at the stick in my hand, seeing a red plus sign. I looked up to her, my eyebrows raised.

"It's not Rick's." She said simply. She wouldn't look at me.

"What do you mean it's not Rick's?" I looked at her like she was stupid. She might as well be!

"At least I'm not sure if it's Rick's." I shook my head at her, knowing exactly what was coming next. "Shane—he told me that Rick was dead. I believed him! I wasn't in my right mind." I looked at her. I couldn't believe her!

"So you hop into bed with someone! You just jump right in?! With Shane no less! Your _husband's _best friend, Lori!" She looked at me, hurt written all over her face.

"I thought my husband was dead!" She practically yelled. I rolled my eyes at her.

"That's still no excuse! Did you have any faith that maybe he was alive? You know for a fact that Rick is a fighter, just like Carl! Where do you think he got it from? You? Our family don't have that gene Lori. We aren't fighters. We used to have faith…I don't know where or when you lost yours." I accused.

"Don't go there Lennox! My faith disappeared once the dead started to attack our loved ones! Our neighbors!"

"No, Lori. Your faith disappeared long ago." I got up from the log we had sat on. I started to walk away from me sister before I stopped and turned around. "Tell Rick, Lori. He deserves to know what his wife—my sister—has done." With that I turned back around and walked to my tent.

"Trouble in paradise, woman?" I jumped at the voice behind me.

"Do you ever sleep, Grump?" I turned around to face Daryl. He had his crossbow in his hands and he was looking off to where Lori was.

"She a'right?" He asked, motioning his head towards Lori.

"She's just fine." I grumbled out.

"You ain't, though." I let out a breath. And I thought _I_ was nosey.

"I'm just fine."

"That's what you said about yer sister." He pointed out.

"You sure are nosey tonight, aren't you, Grump?" I said to him. "Is your next mood going to be Dopey or Bashful?" I asked with a chuckle. Daryl shook his head and started towards his tent, letting out a 'night' over his shoulder. "Sleepy it is." I muttered laughing quietly to myself. I went back into my tent and laid down. Sleep didn't come to me. I spent the night tossing and turning, much to my displeasure. Sometime during the night I gave up trying to sleep. I stared at the side of my tent as it started to slowly get lighter out. I got up and changed into a pair of skinny jeans and a t-shirt. I slipped on my boots and left my tent. Daryl was the only one up. I was hoping no one would be up. Daryl motioned for me to follow him. We walked away from the camp to where his tent was set up. It was quite a ways away from the rest of us. He grabbed his crossbow from inside his tent and strung it on his back.

"Ya ever been huntin'?" He asked me. I shook my head. "A'ight. You look like ya need ta' get away, so c'mon." I looked at him as he walked away from me, towards the woods. He noticed I wasn't following him and he turned around raising an eyebrow at me.

"I'd scare away the prey." I said simply. He shrugged his shoulders.

"You couldn't be worse than Merle was. He ain't never known how to shut his big ass mouth." He started walking again and I followed this time. I jogged to him, slowing down to walk next to him. He pulled a knife out from his belt loop and handing it to me. "Even if ya brought that crowbar of yer's, I'd still make ya take it." I rolled my eyes but silently chastising myself for not having anything with me.

We trekked through the woods and every once in a while Daryl would squat next to tracks. He said they were deer tracks, all I seen were holes in the dirt. I told him just that. He grumbled out a "women". I huffed at him crossing my arms over my chest. We continued on. He'd point things out to me, pointers and tips on finding prey. By the time we started to make our way back to camp around mid-day, Daryl had five squirrels and four rabbits over his shoulder and I had a few things up my sleeve if I ever wanted to track something and kill it. Food was food but I definitely would look at it differently anytime I ate something now.

We were walking on the edge of a cliff, pretty stupid but hell. It's the end of the world, why not live on the edge? I chuckled.

"What're ya laughin' at, woman?" Daryl asked.

"Nothin', don't worry about it." I told him. "Tell me a story, Daryl." I told him.

"Yer demandin', woman. I ain't tellin' you a story." I narrowed my eye at him.

"Fine, I'll tell you one." I tried to think of anything, even if it didn't really happen. "I got lost in the woods one time. It was the scariest few hours of my life." I told him. He looked at me.

"How old were ya?"

"Twelve." Daryl let out a short laugh. "What?"

"I was younger than that and I got lost. Nine days, in the woods, eatin' berries and wipin' my ass with poison oak. My dad didn't even know I was gone. Merle was doin' another set in juvy. I found my way back though. Went straight into the kitchen and made myself a sandwich. No worse for wear 'sept my ass itched somethin' awful." I snorted and let out a laugh. I covered my mouth quickly once I heard how loud it was. I mentally hit myself for being so stupid. We only encountered a few walkers in the woods but who's to say more than we can handle couldn't come out from behind some trees. Which is what happened…kind of. A walker came out from behind a tree next to us. It startled us and pushed me into Daryl. We must have been closer to the edge of the cliff then I thought because we both tumbled down the side of it into the river at the bottom. I cursed as I felt a sharp pain in my ankle. I slowly got myself up, pulling out my—Daryl's—knife as I seen the walker roll down the side of the cliff, trying to get to his dinner. Too bad that wasn't going to happen. I looked to Daryl who was a few feet away from me.

"Son of a bitch!" I felt my eyes widen as I seen the water around him turn red with his blood. He had one of his arrows protruding from his side. I looked up as I heard the walker growling. He was caught on a ledge on the side of the cliff. He'll make his way down to us in a second. I grabbed Daryl's arm and helped him up, pulling him to the bank of the river and setting him down. He grabbed the knife out of my hand and cut one sleeve off with it before handing me the knife back and ripping off the other. I would have made a comment about it being hot if we weren't in the situation that we were in. I turned around when I heard a splash. I walked over to the walker who flung himself over the edge just for a taste of our flesh. _ Too bad_, I thought as I walked over to it, plunging the knife into its head. When I turned around, Daryl was nowhere in sight. I freaked out.

If we weren't screwed before, I knew for a fact I was now that I had no idea where Daryl was.

* * *

**_Here's chapter six! Tell me what you think! Leave a review! I hope you liked it!_**

**_-BLArensman xx_**


	7. Chapter 7

_**Chapter 7:**_

After quietly calling out for Daryl, he showed. He was behind some trees, looking at the side of the cliff. I followed his gaze. If we were to climb it, neither of us being injured, it wouldn't be that difficult but seeing as we were injured…well, it would be a miracle if either of us made it up to the top on one try.

"We're not climbin', are we?" I asked. He continued to look up, looking for a spot to start no doubt.

"Ya got a better idea?" He snapped. _Wow, touchy._

"Actually, yes, I do. There's gotta be a place that isn't as steep. We're both injured, Grump. It'll be—"

"Are ya scared of a little climbin', Princess?" I narrowed my eyes. I pushed passed him and started climbing. At first it wasn't that difficult but as we got higher, it became a problem. The trees and such that were growing on the side of the cliff were loose. Most of the time, I'd end up pulling it out of the cracks in the rock that they grew out of. I made a grab for the tree that was at the top and pulled myself up and crawled until I was at the top of the cliff and far enough to stand up. I peered over the edge seeing Daryl struggling to pull himself up. He was having the same problem I had. Everything you grabbed would just be pulled out and you'd have to move on and try to find something else you could hold on to. I watched as Daryl made a move to grab a small tree. As he grabbed it I seen it was loose in the ground. Before I could warn him to grab something else he was tumbling back down the side of the cliff.

"Daryl! Daryl, are you okay?!" I didn't get an answer. I watched Daryl closer and realized he wasn't moving. "Shit!" I looked around. I couldn't go back down the way I came. I'd end up tumbling back down and it wouldn't do anything but get us both killed. I spotted a small incline. It was steep but the trees and roots were large and looked strong. The only problem was that it was on the other side. I knew downriver the land leveled out but I would be the only way to get to him without succumbing to the same fate as him. I wouldn't do any good if I was lying beside him, unconscious. I ran through the woods to get to the other side of the cliff. I hurt my ankle but I could deal with the pain in my ankle. I couldn't deal if I was the reason why Daryl became walker food. I was already the reason why he fell in the first place. If I hadn't laughed so loud, if I was paying attention, we would've been well on our way back to the farm. Daryl wouldn't be lying, unconscious at the bottom of a cliff.

I reached the slight incline quickly. I used the trees and roots to make my way down it. I got to the bottom and trudged my way through the water over to Daryl. When I got there Daryl was starting to stir. He smiled, his eyes still closed.

"Merle…" _Merle?_ That was the third time Daryl mentioned that name. Was it a brother? A friend?

"Daryl, are you alright?" I squatted down next to him.

"Shitty day, bro." He mumbled out. _What?_

"Daryl, what the hell are you on about?"

"Screw you." My mouth fell open. Did he really just say that to me? What was wrong with him? I decided to ignore him. I got up and turned around. I came face to face with a walker.

I let out a scream—stupid but it was a reflex. I tried to move back but it grabbed ahold of a section of hair on the side of my head. I silently thanked the heavens for having decided to put it up after it become too hot to wear it down. The hair being up didn't stop the diseased shithead from grabbing it though. I pulled my head in the opposite direction of it, putting my hands on its chest and pushing it away from me. I kept it away but its hand still held onto my hair like a vice grip. I grabbed the knife that I had put on my belt loop with one hand, keeping the thing and its snarling disgusting mouth away from my head. I knew I wouldn't be able to get enough force in one arm to plunge the knife in its head, especially in the position I was in now. I reached up and in one swift movement I cut my hair that the walker had gripped. I brought a leg up and kicked it hard enough to get it a few feet away from me before charging at it and plunging the knife in its skull, stopping the sound of snarls. I looked at its hand, seeing the hair still in its closed one. I reached up, feeling the now short patch on the side of my head. I sighed. I looked to Daryl. He was still lying in the dirt on the side of the water but he was moving more. I kicked his boot a few times before he opened his eyes and blinked a few times. His eyes were glossy and he looked unsure of where he was. I put a hand out and he gripped it and I pulled him up.

"We gotta get that arrow out of your side." I spoke. He didn't answer me. I was about to say it again before he grabbed the arrow and yanked it out of his side. I almost got sick. Daryl hobbled over to his crossbow and made his way to a fallen branch and sat down on it. He took off his flannel that he ripped the sleeves off of to make a strap to bind his wound earlier, leaving him in a brown wife beater. He rewrapped the sleeves over his wound and pressed his now folded flannel and used the wrap to hold it in place over his wound.

Daryl got up walking passed me to the two walkers. He grabbed the laces off one of the walker's boots and tied the ends. He asked me for the knife and I gave it to him, not sure what he was going to do. _Why'd you give it to him!? _I thought as I watched in horror as the psychotic man before me cut the ears off the walkers. He put the ears on the lace he tied early and put it over his head.

"Did you just make a necklace out of walker ears?!" I asked as I fought back the urge to puke—again. He grunted. "That's disgusting, Daryl." He smirked at me before he went expressionless again. "We need to get out of here. We should head downriver and then trek back. You won't be able to make the climb again." Surprisingly Daryl didn't argue. He nodded and we set off. On the way back to the farm we didn't encounter any walkers which was a blessing. Halfway back to the farm Daryl started to slow down and drag his feet. On one of the falls he took he must have hit his head. He had blood running down the side of his face and his blood had soaked through the shirt. I knew he was tired because I was. I offered for him to lean on me, to help him, but he declined saying he "wasn't no pussy". I rolled my eyes. He could collapse any minute and he was worried about something that stupid. By the time we could see the farm off in the distance through the trees we were both walking slowly. Daryl was dragging his crossbow behind him. He looked like a walker and before I could offer to hold it for him he walked out from the trees. I followed after him. I watched as Rick, Shane, T-Dog and Glenn came running toward us, each holding a weapon. Daryl was a few paces ahead of me so I tried to catch up with him. The guys came to a stop in front of us. Rick pointed his gun at Daryl.

"Is that Daryl? Lenni?" I heard Glenn ask.

"Tha's the third time you've pointed that thing at my head. You gon' pull the trigger or what?" Rick dropped his arm and smiled. Right when he did the sound of a gun went off and Daryl went down.

"No!" Me and Rick screamed at the same time. I dropped to my knees next to Daryl as Rick ran up to us. Daryl brought his hand up to his head. The bullet just grazed his head. I let out a breath and moved out of the way as Shane came over and helped Rick lift Daryl off the ground.

"I was kiddin'!" With that Daryl passed out. Dale and Andrea came running out into the field, Andrea hysterically asking if he was dead.

"Unconscious. The bullet just grazed him." Rick told her.

"Look at 'em. What the hell happened!? He's wearing _ears_!" Glenn spoke. He looked to me.

"I'll tell you all later. Right now, just get him to Hershel." Rick and Shane brought him into the house bringing him upstairs into another room. I stayed outside. Lori looked at me funnily.

"What?!" I snapped at her.

"What happened to your hair?" I brought my hand up, remembering just now about it.

"Walker got ahold of it. Wouldn't let go so I had to cut the hair it grabbed on to." I pulled my hair out of the ponytail to try and cover it up. Lori's face turned into one of worry. I shook my head at her. "I'm fine, aren't I?" She nodded and then started to laugh. "Stop laughing!" I said seriously before joining her.

"You can finally do what you've always wanted to do. You're hair's long enough and no you have an excuse to shave your head." She chuckled. My eyes widened before I ran inside and too a bathroom. I shut the door behind me before looking for a comb and hair clippers. I sectioned my hair bringing some of it to the other side and clipping it away from the shorter hair that I had cut earlier. I plugged in the chair clippers thankful for Hershel having electric. I took a deep breath before taking the clippers over the cut hair and shaving it off. I looked down at the sink seeing my dark brown hair. I unplugged the clippers cleaning them and putting them away. I cleaned the hair from the sink before combing my hair out and then braiding it to the side tightly. I walked out of the house after, Lori giving me a big smile before shaking her head. I walked into my tent and changing into clean clothes that weren't stained with walker blood and dirt. When I walked back out Shane was back outside and he was speaking to Lori. I frowned, remembering what Lori told me last night. I looked away from them and walked back into the house.

"Are you hungry, Lenni?" I looked to Maggie who came out from the kitchen. "We're making dinner right now for everyone." I nodded at her.

"Do you need any help?" I asked.

"Yeah, we could always you an extra set of hands," She smiled. "I like your hair by the way." She added. I smiled at her before following behind her and helping prepare dinner for the group.

* * *

After everyone ate I grabbed another plate and filled it up and grabbing a glass of wine. I brought them up to Daryl, knowing he had to be hungry. I knew he wouldn't be sleeping either. He probably though it was "weak". I opened the door to the room he was in. He looked up before pulling the sheet higher to cover his chest and rolling over so his back was facing me. I rolled my eyes. _Not like I haven't seen a man's chest before_.

"How're you feeling?" I asked him.

"'Bout as good as I look."

"I brought you some dinner, Grump." I told him; walking to the side he was facing and put the plate next to him on the bed. I held the glass of wine in my hand still. "I wanted to thank you," I told him. He looked up at me confused. "And apologize."

"For what?"

"I wanted to thank you for asking me to tag along with you to go hunting. You knew I was, uh, having a bad day—a bad night—and you asked me along. It got my mind off things and I even learned a few of your tricks." I smiled at him.

"What do ya need to apologize for, then?" He asked gruffly. I sighed and nodded my head in his direction.

"I'm the reason you're here, hurt. If you didn't ask me along you would have been fine. You wouldn't have had my loud, clumsy ass messin' everything up. I basically pushed us both over the edge of that cliff and I'm the reason you got an arrow through your side." I told him, looking everywhere but at him.

"The walker came outta nowhere. I wasn't payin' attention. If I was, I would have saw it. It ain't yer fault." I shook my head at him.

"No, it was my—"

"Be quiet, woman. Even if it was just yer fault, ya still helped my ass." I looked at him, not agreeing but letting it go.

"You should eat, get your strength back. I know ya don't wanna be on bed rest longer than you have too. Goodnight, Grump." With that I got up and left the room.

The next morning Daryl was in his tent like I figured he would be. Everyone was doing mindless chores around the farm. I spent the morning playing with Sophia and Carl. It was like we were all just soaking in the beauty of the day. The day was oddly serene. It was as if the dead weren't walking around, like nothing was wrong in the world. I took advantage of it. My ankle still hurt but nothing was wrong with it, just a minor sprain. It didn't stop me from chasing the kids around, though. I shouldn't be running around but I wanted to spend as much time making sure the kids has smiles on their faces because who knew when they wouldn't be able to smile anymore.

After a while Carl gave up playing and went gallivanting around. He ended up picking up a stick and reached for his knife that was on his side. I noticed that he was making sure his shirt didn't move but when it did I saw an outline of something that was unexpected. I told Sophia that I'd be right back and walked up to Carl. I grabbed his arm and pulled him away from everyone and to the front of the RV.

"Alright, give it here." He looked at me, surprised before he straightened out.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Aunt Len." He sounded so innocent.

"Nice try, Bud. I'm not blind—or stupid." He frowned and looked down before lifting up his shirt. I knew from the outline I had seen but I was still surprised when I seen the gun for real. I sighed before pulling him with me and calling Rick and Lori over. Shane being Shane followed and Dale did too after seeing the expression on my face. Once Rick and Lori were in front of me I spoke.

"Show 'em, Bud." Carl sighed before pulling his shirt up and showing them the gun. Lori gasped and Rick's face became expressionless. Lori snatched the gun away from him asking how it happened.

"Well, it's my fault," We all looked to Dale. "I let him into the RV. He said he wanted a walkie. Did you send him for one?" Dale asked Rick. Rick shook his head and lowered it.

"So on top of everything else, he lied?" Lori asked.

"He wants to learn how to shoot." Shane spoke up. "He asked me to teach him how. It's none of my business but I'm happy to do it. It's your call."

"I'm not comfortable with this." Lori said. We all looked to her. "Oh, don't make me out to be the unreasonable one."

"Lori, it's not the same world anymore. He needs to be able to protect himself. If he's taught properly he'll know how and when to shoot a gun." I spoke.

"He was just shot! He's just back on his feet and he wants a gun?"

"Better than him bein' afraid of 'em." Rick said.

"There're guns in camp for a reason. He should learn how to handle them safely." I added. Rick and Lori went back and forth. Lori said he wasn't mature enough and Carl came forward.

"I'm not gonna play with it, mom. It's not a toy. I'm sorry I disappointed you but I wanna be able to help protect everyone, defend our camp. I can't do that without a gun." Carl definitely got more than one trait from his father. His way with words was no exception. He's already won me over.

"Shane's the best instructor I know. I've seen him teach kids younger than Carl." Rick looked Lori in the eyes for a few seconds before she walked to Carl, grabbing a hold of his chin.

"You will take this seriously and you will behave responsibly and if I hear from anyone in this camp that you are not livin' up to our expectations—" I cut my sister off.

"He won't let you down." I said simply. Soon after Shane was rounding everyone up that wanted to learn how to shoot and headed away from the farm for practice. Patricia and Beth, with the consent of Hershel, even tagged along. Carol and Sophia even went. I stayed back with Glenn and Dale.

"You comin'?" Shane asked Glenn.

"I gotta help Dale clean the spark plugs on the RV. He's gonna teach me mechanics. I should probably go look for him." Glenn's words were rushed and I automatically seen the signs of lying.

"Well, ya found me." Dale said from behind him, next to me. "He's a good learner" he addressed Shane. Shane looked at them both like they had three heads before getting into one of the cars and driving away with the rest following him.

"Spark plugs, huh?" I laughed as Dale asked Glenn. "Wanna tell me what's going on." It wasn't a question.

"You're old," I raised my eyebrows at Glenn's obvious statement with a grin on my face. "You know things. S-so what if somebody told you something that somebody else should know…"

"Glenn, stop being dramatic," Dale said coolly. "Spit it out."

"There're walkers in the barn and Lori's pregnant." Glenn sputtered out. My eyes widened.

I knew the peace of today wouldn't last very long.

* * *

**_Here's chapter seven! _****_I feel like I'm updating too much but I can't help it. I get excited while I'm writing and I just can't wait to upload them. I already know what's going to happen later on in the story and I'm really excited to get to write it. Before I wrote this chapter out, I was planning ahead and I got really excited I just wanted to skip all this and get to the good parts. I have a few pretty big and crazy twists planned(at least, I think they're crazy...my opinion _is_ biased) but I hope you'll like them. They won't be happening for a while but well, get excited with me! :) Anyways, I have a few questions:_**

**_Am I updating too much? Are the chapters long enough? What do you think is going to happen later on in the story?_**

**_-BLArensman xx_**


	8. Chapter 8

_**Chapter 8:**_

I didn't think things could get any worse but boy, did they. It was one thing to have geeks walking around but it was completely worse to have them put into a barn a hop, skip and jump away from our camp. It was nerve wracking to know they were in there and that close to us.

After Glenn told me and Dale, Dale went off towards the stables and just did mindless things around the farm. I went to find Lori when they all got bad from gun practice. We haven't spoken much since finding each other again. I knew she needed someone to talk to and to get her mind off of things. I did too. I found Lori leaning on a fence out in one of the fields on the farm. Rick was making his way back towards camp, away from Lori. He looked upset and in a daze. He didn't notice me when we walked by each other.

"Hey, Lor." I greeted her. She looked at me, her eyes blood shot like she's been crying. I frowned. "Are you alright?" More tears fell from her eyes, leaving fresh lines down her cheeks.

"I asked Glenn to get me Morning After Pills and Rick found them…" I looked at her. I didn't know how to respond. She took abortion pills? She got rid of the baby that was growing inside her? I shook my head.

"How could—why would—why, Lori? Why?" She looked away from me before looking me straight in the eye.

"Why would I want my child to live in a world like this? We have happy memories! We have memories that keep us going! This baby—this baby won't! All it'll know is fear, pain, loss…"

"This baby would bring joy, Lori! You don't know what could happen! Every—"

"Don't you dare tell me everything will be fine," She yelled before lowering her voice. "You had complications with—" She started after interrupting me before I cut her off too.

"Don't. Just…don't, Lori. It doesn't matter anymore! It's been years. My argument will fall on deaf ears. What I have to say to you doesn't matter." I couldn't believe she would even think to bring _him_ into this.

"I puked them up." She said quietly.

"Excuse me?"

"I puked the pills up. I couldn't do it." I sighed.

"It still doesn't matter, Lori. I'm sorry. Whatever you choose to do doesn't involve me. It's between you and Rick."

"I told him…about me and Shane." I watched as she took a deep breath before letting out a strained laugh. "If we were under any other circumstance, he'd shove divorce papers in my face." I shook my head at her.

"Rick wouldn't do that. He just found out the woman he loves was with his best friend. Anyone in their right mind would be upset, Lori." It was her turn to shake her head at me.

"No, no. If the dead hadn't started to wake up…if he hadn't been in a coma—we were having trouble before." I didn't know what to say. I didn't have any words to console my sister. I didn't have any sympathy for her. It sounds harsh, but she brought it on herself. There wasn't anything I could do to help them, to help her. She needed to help herself first. I sighed, walking away from her and back to my tent.

* * *

The next morning everyone was sitting around each other. Late last night me, Glenn and Dale agreed the group needed to know about the walkers in the barn. Glenn told us he wanted to be the one to tell everyone but seeing him now, fidgeting and nervous looking I figured he was going to chicken out. I watched as Maggie came out onto the farms porch, a good hundred feet away from us. Glenn looked to her and quickly looked away when she started to shake her head. I knew she only knew what her father did. She had more experiences with the dead but I don't think she really understood what the walkers were actually capable of. I looked away from her when Glenn stood up from his seat near a tree and stood in front of the group. He put his hands in his front pockets and looked down. I was preparing to stand up and say it for him before he spoke.

"Uh, guys," He started. "so…the barns full of walkers." I could have clapped him on the back. He didn't beat around the bush for once. He came straight out and told everyone. Everyone froze. Andrea turned around, fear and disbelief evident on her face. Everyone got up and made their way to the barn. Shane went up to one of the cracks between the wood of the barn before walking away when one popped up in front of him. I jumped, it taking me by surprise even being this far away. I still wasn't immune to the walkers. I wasn't fearless and I didn't think I ever would be.

"You cannot tell me you're alright with this!" Shane exclaimed, walking passed Rick, his shoulder bumping into Ricks.

"I'm not," Rick stated. I didn't think Rick would be okay with it…ever. "But we're guest here. This isn't our land.

"Oh, God! This is our lives, man!" Shane yelled

"Lower your voice!" I told him. We didn't need the fuckers knowing we were out here. They would break down the barn door to get to their food.

"We can't sweep this under the rug." Andrea said.

"It ain't right." T-Dog told everyone.

"We either gotta go in there, we gotta make things right or we just gotta go. Now, we have been talkin' 'bout Fort Benning for a long time—" Shane tried to reason with Rick.

"We _can't go_!" Rick said.

"Why Rick, Why?" Shane started to pace.

"Just let me talk to Hershel. Let me figure it out!"

"What're you gonna figure out!" Shane turned to Rick while he basically screamed the question at Rick. Shit was hitting the fan…again.

"If we're gonna stay, if we're gonna clear this barn, I have to talk him into it! This is his land!"

"Hershel sees those things in there as people." I stated.

"Sick people," Dale added on. "His wife, his step son!"

"You both knew?" Rick asked.

"Yesterday. I talked to Hershel." Dale told him, told everyone.

"And you waited the night?" Shane angrily asked Dale.

"We thought we could survive one more night. We did." I told Shane. I didn't like the way he was looking at Dale. He had a look in his eye and I didn't trust it. "We were waiting until this morning to say something but Glenn wanted to be the one."

"The man is crazy, Rick! If Hershel thinks those things alive—" Shane started yelling again. The doors, which were padlocked shut, started to shake and push forward with all the yelling. Everyone started to move back. Lori grabbed on to Carl and Carol grabbed on to Sophia. The door didn't break down but it scared pretty much every one of us.

Shane wanted people to watch the barn. Shane wasn't always right but I had to agree with him on this. We couldn't just accept and let this go despite it being on Hershel's land. I peered into the barn and there was over a dozen in there. If it was only a few, it'd be different. If it was only a few walkers, if they got out they wouldn't be a problem for us. If this herd got out in the middle of the night, with no warning, we'd be screwed.

Rick went off with Hershel and Jimmy a few hours ago and that's when Shane suggested we have someone always watching the barn. It was one of his smarter decisions. I sat out near the barn. Every once in a while, Shane or Andrea came down and joined me. Shane and I didn't speak but me and Andrea had short conversations before she would go off to do something else. I think she was only trying to impress Shane. Something had to have happened between them. They're always giving each other _this_ look. I spent the day watching the barn. All of a sudden I heard grunting and I looked up to see everyone running down to the barn. At first I thought a walker—or walkers—got out but after looking around I saw why. Rick and Hershel were leading two walkers to the barn. They both had a long stick with a loop at the end that was around the walker's neck. Jimmy was in front of them helping to lead the walkers forward. I walked up to the front of the barn and stood with the group next to Daryl. Him, Shane, T-Dog, and Glenn all had guns in their hands and I knew this wasn't going to be a good thing.

"What the hell are you doin'!" Shane yelled.

"Shane just back off!" Rick spit out at him.

"Why do your people have guns?" Hershel asked while trying to keep control of the female walker he had.

"You see what their holding on to," Shane asked us.

"I see who I'm holding on too." Hershel told Shane.

"Nah, man, you don't."

"Enough Shane. Let us do this and then we'll talk!" Rick said.

"What you wanna talk about, Rick?! These things ain't sick! They're not people! They're dead! This things right here! They're the things that killed Amy! They killed Otis! They gonna kill all of us if we—"

"_Shut up_!" Rick yelled at Shane, interrupting him.

"Hey, Hershel…lemme ask you somethin'," Shane reach to the back of his waistband, pulling out a pistol. "Can a living, breathing person, could they walk away from this?" He shot at the female walker that Hershel was holding. "Three rounds in the chest. Could someone who alive, could they just take that? Why's it still comin'," He fired two more shots. "That's its heart—its lungs. Why's it _still_ comin'?!" He shot two more times in its chest.

"Shane, _enough_!" Rick screamed at him.

"Yeah, you're right man. That is enough." Shane walked up to the walker, its moans and growls getting more frantic and loud. He brought up his hand, and shot one last round into its head. He finally killed it. "_Enough_, living next to a barn full of things tryin' to kill us! Enough! Rick, it ain't like it was before. Now if y'all wanna live, if ya wanna survive, you gotta fight for it! I'm talkin' 'bout fight! Right here. Right now!" Shane turned and sprinted to the barn doors. He picked up a pick axe that was near the barn door and started to hit on of the locks that was on the door. He broke it off and took the piece of wood that was used to lock it, off. He banged on the door with his hands a few times before backing up and holding his gun out in front of him. Slowly but surely walkers started to walk out. I stood back, letting the ones with guns take on the walkers. I didn't know what to do. If I had a gun, I wouldn't know how to use it. I regretted not going with the rest to gun practice. I watched as the walker numbers slowly got smaller until there wasn't any more left.

Maggie, Beth and Patricia were crying. Hershel looked angry and like he would cry any second. I remembered that Dale said that Hershel wife and step son were in there. They had to watch them die once before and now a second time. I couldn't even _fathom_ to understand what they were feeling. I had my family here. I felt my heart restrict at the thought of having to watch someone I loved die.

Beth pushed away from Jimmy who was trying to console her and walked to where the group of walkers was. She pushed one off of a female one, softly saying "mom". I shut my eyes tightly to stop the tears. Beth knelt down and pushed it on to its back. As soon as she did, it grabbed ahold of her arms and she screamed. Everyone, including me, ran forward to get the walker away. IT had a stop grip on both of Beth's arms and it took me Shane and Rick pulling at Beth while T-Dog and Glenn pulled at the walker to try and get her out of its grip. Once we got her away, T-Dog brought his foot down on the walkers head, stomping it until its skull was crushed. It was gruesome and disgusting but I knew we'd be seeing this a lot more. After everyone just stood around for a while. Lori and Carol took the kids away quickly after to make sure nothing would surprise us again.

"I want you people off my land." Hershel spoke before rounding his family up and taking them to the house. Rick, Shane and Glenn ran after them. I didn't hear what they were saying once they got back to the house but I watched at Maggie slapped Shane. I looked away. I moved to help Andrea and Daryl round up the dead walkers. Shane came down with a truck and we put the bodies into the bed of the truck and drove behind the barn. Jimmy and T-Dog dug two holes: one for Annette, Maggie's step mother and Beth's mother and one for Shawn, Maggie's and Beth's brother. We held a small service for them, to give the Greene's some sort of closure and then we buried them.

Everyone went off to do their own thing. I followed behind Daryl, not knowing what to do. I was still in slight shock from witnessing it. It's been a few months since the outbreak, you would think I would be kind of used to it but I wasn't. I wasn't used to seeing or even having to kill anything. I wasn't a hunter like Daryl was. I wasn't a cop like Rick and Shane. I wasn't skilled like Glenn or T-Dog in killing the things. Hell, I wasn't even as good as Andrea. That hurt my ego. I needed to be able to use something other than a crowbar while killing the geeks. A crowbar wouldn't do much good if I was surrounded.

Daryl moved his tent away from the group and was situated near the trees on the outskirts of the farm. It wasn't the best place but Daryl was always away from the group and I think he wanted to make sure it stayed that way. I've noticed that he's been more…involved with the group lately. He's open to more conversations. It was nice to see. I didn't know much about his past—I knew nothing actually. I just knew someone named Merle was special to him, his brother. Daryl sat down on a log that was near his tent and I followed suit, sitting next to him.

"What do you miss the most from before the world went to shit?" I asked him. He looked at me like I was stupid but didn't answer me. "I miss running through Central Park. In any season it was beautiful. In the fall it was the most beautiful. The colors on the trees…it was breathtaking."

"Didn't take ya as a sap, woman." He gruffly spoke. I smiled and shrugged my shoulders. "I don't know what I miss the most. Maybe the burgers they had at the only diner we had in town. There ain't no burgers like 'em." He confessed.

"I miss being able to blast music in my apartment. I just miss music in general. Music stimulates a lot of things in your brain. It could help people do lots of things."

"What were ya? A music student?" I laughed at his question.

"Nah, I can't sing or dance. Could never get accepted into Julliard," I chuckled. "I was already done with college when this all happened." Daryl looked at me incredulously. "What?!" He shook his head, letting a small smile out. My smile got bigger on my face seeing his. He looked much younger when he smiled. It fit him, it fit him very well.

"What, woman? Stop lookin' at me like tha'." I looked away from him not realizing I was staring before looking back at him.

"Nothing." I simply stated, adding a shrug of my shoulders to make it more believable. I don't think he bought it but before he could say anything, Glenn came down to where we were. Daryl automatically tensed up and become expressionless. I frowned.

"Have you guys seen Hershel?" He asked quickly. We both shook our heads.

"I haven't seen him since the service…" I told him. He nodded before running to the house and going in. A few minutes later he came back out, Rick following him. They headed into a car and driving off. I raised an eyebrow to Daryl. He shrugged his shoulders. I got up and headed to the house. Maggie was on the porch looking upset.

"Is everything alright?" I asked her. She shook her head.

"Beth is in some kinda shock. She ain't responding to anything. We need my dad but we can't find him. He's not on the farm. Glenn and Rick when to go get him."

First the walkers, now something was wrong with Beth and Hershel is missing. This is turning into one hell of a day.

* * *

**_Here's chapter eight! I'm sorry for taking so long! I've been doing a lot of things recently and it's just been really crazy. I just got my SAT scores and Senior year is right around the corner. I'm looking into colleges and while writing this is very important to me, finding the right college(that I like and that would even consider accepting me) is taking a lot of my time up. Plus I only have around 12 more days of school left. That means me studying for post tests, finals, and regents. I get out of school on the 13th of June and the week after is when my regents are...after that, I'll be able to update a lot more. Anywayssss, I hope this chapter was good and I'm sorry for taking so long again!_**

**_-BLArensman xx_**


	9. Chapter 9

_**Chapter 9:**_

After Rick and Glenn left, Maggie and I just sat on the porch and watched as the sun set. Carol and Lori were inside making dinner and Sophia and Carl were out in front playing tag. I felt bad because although right now they were safe it wasn't going to last forever. Call me a pessimistic but you had to be stupid to believe that you were safe anywhere for a long time. It wasn't like it used to be and it was upsetting. I wanted the kids to have as much fun as they could because years down the road—hell even now—they would need that feeling or memory of happiness to keep them going now that death was always breathing down their necks.

"What are you thinkin' about Lenni?" Maggie asked me quietly. I looked away from the yellows and reds and oranges tinting the sky to face her.

"Life," I told her simply. "Me, you and the others, we've had a childhood. We got to have fun, run around, scream and laugh out loud. Carl and Sophia…they won't ever get to experience that. They'll always need to keep their voices down. They wouldn't be able to go into the outside world without having to look over their shoulder to see if a geek is going to take a bite out of them. It makes me sad for my nephew and for Sophia. I wish I could get rid of every dead fucker so they could experience what we did." Maggie sat silently for a while before speaking.

"There's no saying that they won't be able too. This could all end tomorrow or a week from now—"

"Or never. This isn't some movie; it's real life, Maggie. I want to hope—I _pray _ that it will all be over soon or that maybe this is all just some nightmare but every day we face the harsh reality that right now, no matter what we do, this is the life we're going to live for a long, long time. We have to accept it and just keep fighting." Maggie looked at me but never said anything. A few minutes later Maggie went inside to help but I stayed outside. A few minutes later I heard a car door close. I jumped up and ran down the porch steps to see what was going on. No one should be going anywhere. I seen Lori sitting in the car and seconds later it started. I stood in front of the car and waited for her to look up. When she did she jumped.

"Where are you going?" I asked her, raising an eyebrow and walking around to the driver side. She rolled down the window.

"Beth needs Hershel. I'm going to go get them and bring them back." She shrugged her shoulders.

"Isn't it supposed to be the younger sister doing the stupid, reckless and immature thing? You're going to get yourself killed. Couldn't you have asked someone to go with you? T-Dog? Daryl? I'm sure Daryl—"

"I asked Daryl. He said he was done lookin' for people."

"He's just upset. He keeps goin' on about a Merle." I walked around the car opening the passenger side door and sliding in.

"What are you doing Lennox?"

"What does it look like? I know nothin' I say to you will make you not go. Even if I get you outta the car, you'll just sneak away when my back's turned. Let's go." Lori put on her seatbelt, I followed suit and then we were off.

Lori reached over and grabbed the map that was sitting on the seat between us. She held it in front of her and started to unfold it to get directions. I looked at her.

"You do know I could help you, right?" I asked her before turning my attention back in front of me.

"Lori!" I yelled out snatching the map away from her. Her eyes went back to the road before she whipped the wheel to the left to avoid hitting a walker. It happened fast. One second we were upright the next we were flipping. My head hit the side window and then darkness took hold of me.

When I woke up again, it was night out. I didn't know how long I was out but it had to be a few hours at least. I let out a groan and heard another. I looked to Lori but she wasn't moving. She wasn't the one who groaned. I looked out the cracked windshield a let out a soft scream. A walker was trying to push its head through a hole in the windshield. It was on its knees next to the windshield. At first I was confused until I realized that the car was on its side and me and Lori were hanging to the side by our seatbelts.

The walker's skin was slowly being peeled off of its face with its determination to get its head through the glass. I fumbled with my seatbelt trying to get it off. I was too frantic to get it off that I _couldn't _get it off. I let out a frustrated and scared grunt before giving up for the time being. I reached down and shook Lori and yelling her name, but not loud enough to attract any more walkers. I didn't chance hitting the walker back, scared that he'd take the windshield with him since he now managed to bring his hand up to his face and started to slip his hand in the hole his face was occupying. I shook Lori harder crying out in fear when he got a few fingers between his face and the broken windshield. Finally, Lori woke up and she let out a scream before reaching for her seatbelt getting it off the first try and falling out of the seat. She started to crawl out of the car and made it out. I reached down for my seatbelt getting it off and falling like Lori did.

I was almost out of the car before I heard cracking and my leg was grabbed. I let out a scream, turning my head to look over my shoulder to see the walker got his hand in and his face and he was trying to take a bite out of me. I looked next to me seeing a pistol. Not caring about the consequences of using it, I flipped over quickly, kicking the walker in the head to give me time to aim and shoot. I pulled the trigger and felt myself get sprayed with the walker's blood and rotten flesh. I crawled out of the car to see Lori fighting off another walker. I pulled up my hand and aimed officially killing the other walker. It fell on Lori and she let out a strangled scream. I walked over to her, and pulled the walker off of her. I pulled her up once I got the walker off and I looked her over for any scratches or bit marks. She didn't have either but she had a gash on her forehead from the crash.

"Are you okay?" I asked her. She nodded her head asking me. I nodded to her also. "We need to head back, Lori."

"We can't. Rick is still out there. I have to get him back home with Hershel." I looked at her. Was she serious? She almost died, twice, and she still wanted to continue?

"Neither one of us is fit to continue going to town. Lori, you're hurt. We were just in a crash and you're _pregnant_! For all you know Rick is back at the farm. We should have never left in the first place." Lori walked up to me, snatching the pistol out of my hand but ignoring me. She turned around and started walking in the direction we were going before we crashed. I called out to her bit she ignored me again. I heard a car driving towards us, the head lights making my shadow grow bigger as it got closer. I turned around once I heard the car slow down. Shane got out of the driver's side and Daryl got out of the passenger side. Shane pointed a shotgun at me and Daryl pointed his crossbow.

"Where's Lori?" Shane asked franticly. I pointed behind me, not moving. He ran towards he retreating figure. The adrenaline was wearing off and I was finally feeling like I was in a crash. Daryl walked up to me after he lowered his crossbow.

"Are you okay?" Daryl asked. I let out a humorless chuckle.

"You seem to be askin' me that a lot, huh, Grump? I'm fine." I actually didn't feel fine. That "I'm fine" lie was still going strong even during the end of the world.

"Yeh ain't fine. Don't give me tha' bullshit, Len." I didn't answer him as he led me back to the car. I was angry. I was angry at Lori for being stubborn. I was angry at myself for letting her go. I was angry at myself for even going. As kids Lori always got me into trouble. Mostly it was my fault but I looked up to my older sister. She was my role model. I wanted to follow her around all the time and do what she did. As of right now though, I was done. She wasn't being careful enough. She didn't care about that child she was carrying and I was angry at her for being selfish. Rick could take care of himself. He found her and Carl with no leads what so ever. He survived waking up to a nightmare so I was sure he could survive going into a small town to get Hershel. Shane somehow convinced Lori to get into the car willingly and then we set off. Daryl stayed in the back with me and Lori was in the front seat next to Shane. Shane never looked back at me and I never looked at him. I knew what was going on in his mind. He saw this as another time that he's gotten Lori out of trouble because Rick wasn't able too. This boosted his already way-too-high ego.

The ride back to the farm felt longer then what it was to me. The crash took all my energy. I was so tired I moved over a little to lean my head on Daryl's shoulder. I felt him stiffen and tense up. I was so tired that I didn't even care if he didn't like it and shrugged me off. He didn't and I ended up dozing off until I felt the car come to a stop. I lifted my head off of Daryl and made my way to the other side to get out.

"Come this way. I can help ya out." Daryl grabbed my arm and gently pulled me out of the car with him. I heard Andrea ask us both if we were alright. Shane said we were attacked but Lori corrected him telling everyone that we were fine. I heard Daryl mumbling things under his breathe but didn't have enough in me to care to ask him what he said.

"Where's Rick?" Lori asked. No one said anything but I watched at Shane walked away from Lori, not looking at her. "They're not back?" Again, no one said anything. Everyone just looked at Lori. Lori looked to Shane, "Where are they?"

"Look, I had to get ya back here." Shane looked smug. I shook my head, disgusted that he would lie to my sister again about Rick. Lori walked up to Shane pushing him and they started to argue. I started walked towards my tent not caring about the situation anymore. Daryl followed, keeping a hand on my arm to make sure I didn't fall or anything. Suddenly they stopped arguing.

"You're having a baby?!" I heard Carl ask. "Why didn't you tell me?" I felt Daryl stiffen next to me. After I few seconds of silence Dale spoke up. He beckoned Lori to follow him inside to get cleaned up and asked Daryl to help bring me in too. I didn't need to be looked after. Once I felt Daryl steering me towards the house I yanked my arm out of his grasp and started walking back towards my tent. Of course, Daryl wouldn't just let me go, he grabbed my arm again.

"Ya need to get checked out and cleaned up. Yer head is gushin' blood and ya can barely walk. C'mon." I shook my head and dug my heels in the ground. "Stop actin' like a child. I'll make sure ya won't be in there long. I just—we just wanna make sure yer okay." I didn't miss Daryl correcting himself but I stood there still with my heels dug into the ground. He sighed before speaking again. "Fine, go in yer tent and get an infection, see if I care!" I turned around and walked to my tent, tired of his mood swings. I felt around in the dark for the lamp. Once I found it, I grabbed it and felt around for matches to light the flame in the lamp. I lit the wick and set it down on the ground next to my sleeping bag. I lifted my shirt up over my head, feeling my arms cramp up and a sharp pain to happen in my side. My shirt had blood, from both the walker and mine from my head, soaked through it. It seeped through it to my tank top that was underneath my shirt. I sat down on the ground, feeling more pains make their way in my body. I lifted up my shirt seeing a dark bruise that went down the length of my side. With one hand I held the tank top up and with the other I poked a probed the bruise. I hissed and grunted each time and I quickly stopped. I just sat there looking at the bruise until I heard the zipper of my tent. I let my shirt drop and I looked up as Daryl walked in my tent with a bowl of water and a cloth in it. He said nothing, but he set the bowl down and zipped the tent back up before turning to me.

"Since ya don't want ta go in the house…" he trailed off as he knelt down next to me and dipped the cloth into the water before twisting it to get extra water out and then bringing it to my head to wash the cut that was on my forehead. The water was cold but it felt good on my clammy skin. We didn't speak as he cleaned the cut and the blood off my face. Daryl was close to my face and I watched as he concentrated on the task he was doing. I decided to break the silence.

"Why'd you go with Shane?" I whispered.

"What'dya mean?" He stopped he movement to look at me. His eyebrows were furrowed and he was staring intently at me.

"Why'd you go with him to look for us?"

"I ain't stupid, Len. I know tha' night ya didn't kiss him. I went inside ta get my crossbow an' from the window I saw tha' douchebag grab ya by the neck an' push ya against the house. When I got out there, he was walkin' away. Why did ya lie ta me?" My eyes widened but I didn't say anything. "If yer scared of him, if he threatened ya, ya need ta tell me. I ain't okay with someone threatenin' ya." I stared at him, not sure what to say but I shook my head. Daryl had a temper and I was positive that if I told him Shane had threatened me he'd do something. I wouldn't tell Daryl either way. Shane was my problem not his.

"You don't need to worry about me." I said simply.

"It ain't somethin' I can control. If I could I wouldn't give a shit 'bout anyone here, especially not ya." I looked at him before shaking my head and grabbing the cloth from him.

"I can do the rest. Thanks." I said before standing up and turning my back to him. I heard his sigh and then the zipper opening and then him zipping the tent closed behind him. I didn't finish rinsing the blood off of me. His comment about not wanting to care got to me more than it should have. I spent the night up, my mind moving too fast and my body too sore to lie down long enough to get comfortable. By morning I realized that despite me not wanting to, I cared about everyone here. I realized that I was starting to care more about Daryl then I wanted too and I needed to stop. The world wasn't nice anymore to those who were stupid enough to care about anyone.

* * *

**_Here's chapter nine! _**

**_I'm so sorry! Don't kill me! I know I haven't updated in forever. I was busy with school and I still will be for the next week or so. My last day of school is June 13th(this Friday) but I have to go back next week to take my Algebra II and Trig Regents and my English regents. After the 19th I'll officially be out of school. I was going to update Friday but I was busy packing and getting things ready for the next day. I went to New York City and Long Island from Saturday to Sunday for a family BBQ. It was nice to see some of my cousins I've never met before, and some it was the second time. This summer I'll be going to New York City and Long Island more because I'll be visiting college campuses and visiting family but I'll be updating at least once a week, maybe more if I can. _**

**_Anyways, I hope you like this chapter. Leave me some feed back! Tell me what you want to happen or what you think will happen in the future or anything! _**

**_-BLArensman xx_**


	10. Chapter 10

_**Chapter 10:**_

That night I barely got any sleep. My head was pounding all night and my body felt like I fell from a thirty story building. I was too busy worrying about Lori and her stupidity. I was too busy worrying about what caring for the others would do to me. When the sun started to come up, I welcomed it. I was the first one up but I stayed in my tent for a while. I was thankful for the day but I was too sore to move. Once I heard more people moving around and talking outside my tent I decided I needed to get up. Just because I was hurt didn't give me an excuse to sit around all day doing nothing.

I walked out of my tent seeing Carol making something that looked like eggs over the small fire. She handed me a plate as soon as it was done. I mumbled a thank you and slowly made my way over to an empty camping chair next to the fire. I didn't look up from my plate until I heard Shane announce that he was going to go out looking for Rick and them. My eyes met Daryl's but I quickly looked away. I watched as Shane and Daryl threw a bag of guns in the back of a car and Andrea followed. Of course she would. She was dying to be one of the guys and any chance she got she was up Shane's ass. I shook my head and got up from the chair since I was finished eating. I put the plate and the fork into a bin filled with water that was lying on the ground a few feet away from me. The guys and Andrea got ready to go before a red truck can driving down the dirt road to the farm. I smiled, immediately knowing Rick was back.

As they came to a stop I counted how many heads I seen in the car. _Four_.  
Rick hopped out of the driver's seat and Hershel out of the passenger one. Glenn came out from the back. We all watched as Maggie came running out of the house.

"Thank God, you're back!" Maggie let out and ran straight passed Hershel and into Glenn's arms. Rick and Lori were talking. She was explaining to him what happened to her.

"Who the hell is that?!" T-Dog interrupted every conversation, point to the truck. Everyone looked in the direction her was pointing.

"That's Randall," Glenn stated. Everyone moved to the back of the truck where a boy no older then maybe nineteen sat, blindfolded and unconscious. Shane gave Rick a disgusted look but Rick was unfazed by it. I narrowed my eyes. Shane couldn't even pretend to be happy my brother-in-law was back.

"We couldn't just leave him behind," Rick said. "He would've bled out…if he lived that long." After getting the kid inside so Hershel could repair his calf muscle, everyone sat around the dining room table in the Greene's house. Daryl didn't come inside yet. I didn't know where he went. _You shouldn't care,_ a voice said.

"It's gotten bad in town," Glenn softly said, sending a glance in Maggie's direction.

"What do we do with him?" Andrea spoke up. Before Rick or anyone could answer, Hershel came into the room.

"I repaired his calf muscle the best I could but he'll probably have nerve damage. Won't be on his feet for at least a week." He informed us.

"When he is we give him a canteen, take him out to the main road and send him on his way." Rick told us all. Rick and Glenn told us about their trip to town to get Hershel. A group of guys had fired on them after a misunderstanding. They killed two of their men and the gun shots brought three more to them. They shared a few bullets, one getting shot by Hershel before getting bit by a walker. The other one drove off without Randall after he had jumped off a roof to get to the truck the guy was in. In the jump he ended up getting his leg pushed through a fence.

"Isn't that the same as leaving him for the walkers?" I asked as Daryl reappeared, walking in the door quietly. He looked eyes with me, nodding. I looked away.

"—you're just gonna let him go? He knows where we are." I only caught the end of what Shane said.

"He was blindfolded the entire way here. He's not a threat." Rick said.

"How many more are there? You killed three of their men and ya took one of them hostage, but they ain't just gonna come lookin' for him?"

"They left him for dead. _No one_ is looking."

"We should still post a guard." T-Dog put in. I had to agree with both Shane and T-Dog. It really must be the end of the world but Shane had a point. There wasn't any way no one was looking for the kid.

"He's out cold right now…will be for hours." Hershel stated.

"You know what? I'ma go get him some flowers and candy," Shane sarcastically said. I rolled my eyes. I agreed we needed to be cautions but Shane was acting like a drama queen. "Look at this folks! We back in Fantasy Land."

"You know we haven't even dealt with what you did at my barn yet," Hershel stepped forward as Shane tried to leave the house. Once Hershel spoke, Shane stopped and turned around to face him. "Let me make this perfectly clear once and for all. This is my farm. I wanted ya gone; Rick talked me out of it. That doesn't mean I have to like it. So do us both a favor, keep ya mouth shut." I had the urge to applaud Hershel and hug him. Shane left without saying a word. Andrea following him out like a lost puppy.

The next morning Rick and Shane were getting ready to take the boy out and leave him. I needed to get out. I walked up to the two men. They were standing near the green Hyundai. I had my weapons and they realized I was going with them. Rick nodded at me while Shane just stared expressionless. I rolled my eyes at him. Rick got Randall and led him out of the barn blindfolded and his hands were tied. They put him in the trunk and then we were on our way.

We traveled for a little while before Rick pulled over and got out of the car. Shane followed. I stayed in the back seat of the car. They left the doors open and I watched as Rick led Shane a little ways away from the car.

"Thought we were goin' further?" I heard Shane ask Rick.

"We are. Eighteen miles out."

"So why we stoppin'?"

"I wanted to talk." Rick said simply. Maybe I should have stayed back at the farm. This was probably going to be a conversation Rick didn't want to have while I was around. This was Rick's, Shane's and Lori's business, not mine. I looked out of the window to the fields. We were stopped at a crossroads with empty fields on every side. It reminded me of when me and Lori were younger. We'd always go on road trips. Dad liked to take the "scenic route". I didn't blame him. The trips were always relaxing and with the beautiful, calm countryside passing by in a blur; it made it even more relaxing. I wish I could travel back in time just so I could experience it again. Just so I could go back to a time where the dead weren't walking and when people weren't as savage as they became recently. After a few more minutes of staring outside, Rick and Shane walked back to the car, got in and then we were off again. After what felt like hours, Rick spoke to both my and Shane.

"We gotta start usin' our knives more. If there's one walker, we use our knife. We keep things quiet and we save ammunition." Rick locked eyes with me through the rearview mirror. I nodded at him. "We need things for the winter: Warm clothes, fuel. Maybe we'll get a break. You gotta think the cold effects them. If it doesn't kill 'em its gotta slow 'em down. Second week of January last year, we got all that snow and ice; my cousin got stuck on eighty-five for twenty-four hours. Sittin' in his car with a birthday cake for his girlfriend at Georgia Tech. He just sat and ate birthday cake and listened to the Lord of the Rings book on tape. We could get lucky and get the same winter as last year." Whatever the two talked about when they left the car made it awkward. You could cut the tension with a knife. I knew Rick was just talking to fill the silence and hope to break the tension by thinking of the future. Truth be told, I didn't know if having a winter like they did last year would be a blessing or not. It could either help us get stronger to start fighting against the dead and make a dent in the population or it could kill us along with the walkers. "By December, it's a different world; safer." _I hope so Rick, I hope so…_After a while I started to tune Rick out. We had more important things to worry about this second then what to do a few months down the road. It was a good thing to think about these things but getting the boy away from us is the most important.

After driving more than eighteen miles away from the farm Rick pulled into what looked like an abandon building. It was fenced in. The sign just outside the fencing said _Merit County Department of Public Works_. We all—excluding Randall—got out of the Hyundai to look around. We walked up to the fence that was blocking us from getting in and anything from inside from getting out.

"This'll do," Rick spoke, looking through the gaps in the chain-linked fence. "We'll leave the boy here, scavenge some supplies." Shane wasn't paying attention and you could see his mind was somewhere else and I wondered to myself what had happened between the two. Rick had to be ignoring the tension and awkward air that settled on all of us. The blind could see the tension that had suddenly appeared and radiated off both of them. During the ride after their talk I thought I was going to suffocate because of it, now being out of the car it was a little easier to ignore it. Rick got out attention, cocking his head in the direction of an incoming walker just on the other side of the fence. Shane made a grab for his gun as my grip on my knife tightened. Being alone before finding the group again at the CDC, I stayed away from the geeks, only killing the ones I needed too. It felt like forever since I've been out farther than the town a little ways from the farm. I had forgotten how bad it was outside of those two locations. The barn was the most walkers I've seen since the horde that came through on the highway and the little town wasn't swarmed with walkers, at least not since I've been there. The bullet exchange between Rick, Glenn and Hershel with the other group changed that though. I didn't think getting into the town would be a walk in the park like the previous times before.

While I was thinking, Rick had stopped Shane from using his gun and had taken out his knife. I watched as he took the blade to one of his fingers, making a bright red line. He took his finger and wiped it against the fence and I watched as The walker, who had gotten closer became riled up after seeing us and even more crazed once he had smelled the fresh blood. The walker fell to his knees after running straight into the fence. He let out his tongue and let it swipe over Rick's blood that was now there. I grimaced. Rick brought his knife through one of the openings in the fence and drove it through the walker's—who I now realized was dressed in what looked like a police uniform—skull. As another one appeared, in the same uniform as the first, Rick told Shane it was his turn. Shane did the same as Rick before quickly killing the thing. I was quickly reminded how bad things were before. What used to protect the people pre-apocalypse—the military, the police—was no match for the flesh-crazed monsters that had risen up.

We quickly got the chain that was keeping the fence gate closed and began to scout out the place, leaving a tied up, blindfolded Randall in the trunk of the car. Shane went off to a school bus that was here, checking it out while Rick went downhill and I checked out the small administrative building. The door was open when I walked up to it. I gripped my knife even tighter in my hand, my knuckled protesting and turning white with the amount of pressure I was using. Inside was a mess. There were papers and books lying haphazardly across the floor. The counter that separated the front with the back was also a mess. I looked around, not moving after hearing something. I didn't know what it was—an animal, a walker or another survivor, I wasn't sure. I slowly made my way around to the other side of the counter. There were pools of blood on the floor mixed with more papers, these ones stained red. On the other end, a few feet away from me lay a dead body. I felt bad as I hoped that the person lying dead on the ground was actually dead and not _un_dead. The smell of death that I hadn't noticed before— how, I had no idea — hit me. The smell was so strong my eyes watered and I had to resist the urge to gag. I felt my hope shatter as I seen the thing move and I froze. It was lying on its back and upon hearing me, _or smelling me_ I bitterly thought, its head snapped in my direction. Its eyes were glazed over and yellowing bore into my own as it let out a groan and started to pull itself up. Only went it was up and advancing toward me did I snap out of my frozen state and got ready to defend myself. It was taller than me by a good foot and realized how stupid I was for freezing up. I didn't know _why_ I had frozen up in the first place. Maybe it was because he looked like someone from the group I was in before finding my family and the group. Maybe because it brought up bad memories from the first time I had encountered the undead. I was by myself then. When I felt cold hands grabbing my arms I freaked. I didn't scream, I didn't make a sound. I pushed the hands away taken a step back before kicking my leg out. It didn't go far but it gave me a few seconds to collect myself. When I came back towards me I kicked it again, this time harder. It fell to the ground and I followed it. I drove my knife into its skull the second I was next to it. I brought the knife down a few more times for good measure before standing up. The fight wasn't loud nor was it quiet but it brought Rick and Shane to the door. I stood up from behind the counter. I wiped the back of my hand against my forehead when I felt dripping. I pulled it back to see a blackish red color. I knew it wasn't my blood and the revolting smell proved it too.

"You alright, Len?" Rick asked. I nodded before walking around the counter to join them. I followed them wordlessly. I helped Rick syphon gas from a few cars and trucks. Once we were done we joined Shane who was standing near both of the police clad walkers. We moved them from the place we'd killed them at the fence over to a small grassed area. He was looking at them, searching for something. When we stood next to him he looked at us both once before turning back to the two walkers on the ground in front of us.

"I don't see any bites." She said while pulling at one to turn him over looking at his back.

"Gotta be scratches then." Rick said. "This one's hand," he pointed to the smaller of the two walkers. "Other one's cheek," he pointed to the bigger one now. I looked down seeing a scratch in both spots. Somehow though, I didn't think the scratches were what turned them but I didn't see any other reason as to why they had. "They had walkers here." I almost snorted at his statement. _Obviously_. What place _didn't_ have walkers? "Burned bodies down the hill."

"It's gotta be scratches then," Shane offered quietly. After a few seconds Rick walked away with us following him.

Shane pulled the Hyundai in after Rick opened the gate for him. I stood by making sure nothing would appear. It was pretty quiet besides the three walkers and to be honest that had me on an edge. Once Shane pulled in and Rick closed the gate, all three of us walked to the trunk. Shane and Rick roughly grabbed the boy, pulling him out. He still had the blindfold on and the headphones that Rick had taped in his ear were loudly blasting music. Rick and Shane dragged Randall between a fire truck and a school bus and I silently wondered what had happened here. Where were all the walkers? There were a few buses inside the fence and it was unnerving to not see _anything_ but those three.

Rick pulled the blindfold off of Randall and Shane pulled the tape off of his mouth and the tape holding the ear buds in place. Rick pulled the ear buds out and handing me the music player. I quickly shut it off hearing it become louder that it was no longer being muffled by being in the boy's ears. The kid looked around a few seconds be for speaking up.

"What the hell is this?" Rick and Shane turned around leaving him still tied at the wrists and ankles. I followed suit. I wasn't okay with leaving him hear without any protection. Sure I was angry that he had fired Rick and them but I didn't really think this was what needed to be done. There had to be other ways to deal with the problem that was Randall. We continued to walk away as Randall desperately threw words out of his mouth to try and convince us to let him stay in the group with us. I felt sick but didn't turn around. Rick's word was final and the only way he would change his mind was if Shane did too and I knew that would never happen.

"Why would ya save my life to just kill me by leavin' me here!?" He yelled out. I cringed at the volume before silently agreeing with the boy. I ignored more of his words trying not to feel bad for leaving the kid. Rick pulled out his knife before dropping on the ground. It was at least twenty feet away from Randall, maybe more. Rick didn't leave him weaponless but he didn't exactly give him any help either. He continued screaming about how he 'watched football', 'got drunk' and 'screwed around on the internet'.

"I went to school with Maggie for God's sake!" We all stopped. My head started to beat faster. We turned around to look at him as he continued. We only heard one thing though.

"You went to school with Maggie?" I asked as we made our way back to him. Rick and Shane both echoed my question when he didn't answer right away.

"I…Sh-She didn't know me. Didn't even know I existed! I mean, I knew her. I knew who her dad was," He said before continuing on after seeing Rick and Shane walking away again. I stayed near him. "There is no way I'd ever do anything to hurt her or her family! Or you! Or your people!" I stared blankly at him. "I' not like the guys I was with!" He screeched out. I looked away from him to see Rick facing us with a furious but slightly anxious expression on his face. Shane was faced away but I could tell he was speaking to Rick. Quickly Shane turned around pulling out his gun. Rick shouted out 'No' before I heard the gun go off. It hit the ground less than a foot away from Randall's head, on the opposite side of where I was standing. I grabbed the gun I had from behind me, tucked in the waistband of my jeans before pointing it at Shane. I stayed where I was watching as Rick kicked Shane's gun away from him and it went under the fire truck. Randall looked at me.

"Please don't let them kill me! Please do—" He started but Rick interrupted him yelling for him to shut up. My heart started to beat even faster and my breathing to become labored. The amount of noise we were making was sure to bring attention to us and it made me nervous.

"Keep struggling with it Rick! It ain't hard, man! The right choice is what _keeps us alive_!" Shane yelled at him. "It's always the same with you. It's whenever you're put to tha' test!

"Quit acting like you know tha' way ahead, like you know the rules. There are no rules, man. We're lost."

"Nah, man. I know exactly where I am."

"You don't know _shit_ anymore."

"I don't think you can do it, I don't think you can keep them safe." Shane told Rick accusingly. I took in a breath of air, my eyes wide. Before I could say anything Rick threw a punch at Shane but Shane grabbed his arm. I watched, in horror as Shane head-butted Rick, sending him to the ground. I looked down to Randall and back at the two grown adults beating the living shit out of each other. Shane managed to get ahold of Rick's pistol and I feared for the worse. I didn't put it past Shane to shoot Rick and the fear that the man I used to know would turn the gun on Rick this time, instead of Randall. Shane was a manipulative man before the dead came back to life. He shot at people before, killed a few but they were criminals. The apocalypse changed Shane. He got rid of threats and right now, Shane had made Rick out to be another one of those threats. I looked down at Randall once more before running over to the two. I grabbed Shane who had Rick pinned to the side of car that was next to them. Shane pulled his elbow up and hit me back. I heard the crack and then felt warm liquid coming down my face. I didn't know if it was broken or not but hell, did it hurt like a bitch. I fell backwards hitting the ground hard. I felt a sharp pain flow through my body before ignoring it and getting back up.

I heard Rick let out a grunt of pain before seeing him lying on the ground with a motorcycle on top of him. I ran—more like hobbled—over to him and pulled it up a little so he could slide out from underneath it. Rick got up from the ground and sprinted away from me. He tackled Shane as he held the gun at Randall. I swore as I realized how out of hand this got. I heard someone let out loud battle cry before I heard glass breaking. I ran towards where Rick and Shane were. Everything was quiet for a few seconds before we all heard the familiar sounds of walkers. I let out a startled cry as one walker from inside the large building Rick and Shane were fighting next to came out from the now shattered window. Rick killed it before we heard more and not even two seconds later at least two dozen walkers came stumbling out of the window. I turned and ran before getting hit in the face again. I fell to the ground as Randall appeared above me. He looked shocked to see it was me, maybe expecting it to be a walker or Shane or Rick. He quickly recovered from his obvious shock before landing a hard blow to my face. I groaned. _What was with everyone hitting me in the face today?!_ Brought my own hand back shaving at his face before bringing my other one up and throwing as much of my weight as I could, punched him in the side of his face. I quickly got up, ignoring the dizziness and hoisted him up. His hands were still tied but instead of being behind his back they were now in front. His once tied ankles were free, making it easier to pull him along with me. He struggled but quickly stopped. I looked to him from out of the corner of my eye before looking away.

"C'mon! Gimme a knife or somethin'! There're chompers behind us!" I looked, seeing three walkers stumbling behind us, one straggling behind the other two. I ignored his plea for something to defend himself. He attacked me and although he might help, who's to say he wouldn't shoot me in the leg or drive a knife threw it to save his own ass, leaving me for walker bait? I wasn't taking the chance so I quickly pulled him with me, harder this time making it to the car before throwing him in the trunk and closing it quickly. I turned around, knife in hand before plunging it into the nearest walkers head. That left two let to deal with. I started to back up as the next walker came towards me but I tripped over my own feet landing with a thud on my backside, the walker following me to the ground. My grip on my knife loosened and it flew out of my hand a few feet away from me. I swore as the walker fell on top of me. I brought one arm up, pushing my forearm against its neck to keep its snapping jaw away from me. I quickly started to wiggle my way over to the knife. I felt the tip of the blade before moving just a little more to grab it. Right when I did I felt the other walker fall on top of the one on top of me. I drove the knife through the walkers' skull that was on me before turning my attention to the other one. I struggled to push the dead walker off of me but with the other one's added weight I wasn't able to. My arm was pinned underneath the dead walker and my other arm couldn't reach the other walker. Suddenly a gunshot sounded and the walker above me stopped moving.

"Lennox?!" I heard Rick call to me.

"Under here, Rick." I huffed out. I felt the weight of the walkers being pulled off of me before Rick helped me up.

"Where's Randall?" He asked. I pointed to the car, us both hearing the pounding and muffled yells from the boy.

"Where's Shane?" I asked Rick after not seeing him behind Rick. I could hear growls off a little ways and got worried. I didn't like Shane but I didn't want him to die being torn apart by the flesh hungry monsters.

"Let's go." Rick said, ignoring my question.

"What?"

"Let's go." He said again. I stared at him for a minute before shaking my head.

"Me and Shane…We don't see eye-to-eye. We haven't for a long time but we can't leave him. Whatever happened between the two of you, happened. He's your best friend, for God's sake! Whether you want to admit it or not you don't want to leave him. I know you Rick, as soon as we leave, you'll regret it. You'll blame yourself even though Shane would have it comin'… we _can't_ leave him." Rick stared a few seconds before getting into the passenger side.

"Remember when we were younger and we all went muddin'? You were always the only one who knew how to handle the truck and not spin outta control and always got out of the way of fallen trees or anything that got in the way…drive like that again." I stared at him again before hopping into the driver's side and starting the engine. "Let's go get 'im." Rick said as he rolled the back window down and I drove off in direction of the growls. I drove through a fence towards the bus Shane was holed up in. There were at least ten walkers trying to get in the bus and have a feast called Shane. Ricked stuck him torso out of the window, gun in hand and ready.

"Shane! Go for the back door!" Rick yelled over the growls and now the gunshots he was firing. Shane ran through the bus coming out of the back as I pulled next to it. His feet went into the open window first then his body. I slammed the car into reverse before going out the chained gate next to the bus. Walkers hobbled after us but as I pressed on the gas harder they got smaller and smaller through the rearview mirror. I drove for a while before pulling over to the side of the abandon road. I got out and Rick and Shane did too. They went to the trunk while I got into the back seat, slamming the car door closed once I was in. I leaned my head back, trying to stop the images that were flying through my head. I was able to push them aside before but now it was proving to be difficult. Today proved even more to me that even the people we once knew weren't as trustworthy as we thought. I felt sick to my stomach once I realized if it had been Rick cornered in that bus, Shane wouldn't have went back for him.

The ride back to the farm was tense after coming to that realization. After tying Randall back up and in the same way when we had left, Rick and Shane got back into the Hyundai, this time, Rick driving.

The last few days took a toll on me and if I wasn't feeling it before, I _sure as hell _was now.

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**_Here's chapter ten! so far the longest chapter I've ever written. _Ever._ It's just over 5k. I hope you like it! Sorry it's taken me so long to get this chapter out also. On the Brightside, after Thursday I'll officially be done with school (and no longer a Junior-it's frightening and exciting to know that) and it'll be summer which means more time for me to write and update for you guys. I hope this chapter was good though, leave me some feedback! I'd really appreciate to know if you guys like the story or if you don't. Critique me, point out where it's good or bad, I don't care. I want you guys to like the story as I'm writing it for you guys! _**

**_-BLArensman xx_**


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